“We have discretion to track down bounties as per the Justice Department’s wishes. Perhaps I should clarify – we are the only bounty hunters in town who are contracted to the Justice Department. This is official business,” I added.
Josh winced. I know he wanted to pull me aside and remind me that technically this wasn’t Justice Department business. Max – who was very much not affiliated with anyone but himself – had given us this bounty.
Screw that. I’d done enough for the Justice Department to know that all of my cases always went back to them. It didn’t matter who gave us the bounty, ultimately, said bounty would end up running into the wrong side of the law. Plus, technically this was an establishment open to the public. I would only require special permission from the Justice Department to enter a private establishment.
Yeah, technically we were violating the restaurant’s dress code, but you know what was more important than pearls and diamonds?
Tracking down leads.
Before the guy could think things through too hard, I nodded toward the dining room. “How many guests do you have in there right now? If I show you the picture of our bounty, could you please tell us if you’ve seen her recently?”
The guy ticked his gaze from me to Josh, obviously wondering why Josh was being so meek. “We protect our guest’s privacy—”
“That’s great. Ultimately, however, every single citizen of Madison City falls under the same laws. If you want me to pop my head into the dining hall and check myself, I can,” I said point-blank.
I was doing it again – becoming hard. Blame it on the fact I had to save the world after I solved this case. Blame it on the fact I think I’d always been a hard woman, but I’d never been in a situation to prove that until I’d become a witch. Now my natural ballsiness was having the chance to come to the forefront. And I would not back down.
This finally caused the guy to crumble. “Give me a photo,” he said impatiently.
I shot him the kind of look that told him sass would not be accepted. I shoved a hand into my pocket and pulled out the photo and handed it to him.
He gave it a brief glance, then shrugged. “I haven’t seen anyone like that. You can leave now. You’re taking up my time—”
“You didn’t look at that photo properly,” Josh said. Finally he was coming to my aid. He shoved his hands into his pockets and took a hard step toward the guy. But his step wasn’t nearly as hard as his expression. “Do you have an imagination, sir?”
The guy looked taken aback. “I don’t see how an imagination is relevant right now—”
“Oh, it’s pretty relevant. You see, an imagination will be able to help you realize that helping us is a hell of a lot better than obstructing us. I get it – we’re not dressed according to your dress code. I get it – you promise a high-class experience, and two government-sanctioned bounty hunters aren’t usually part of that. But you need to understand this – we’re tracking a bounty, and we have every reason to suspect she’s in your restaurant. Now, what do you think is going to happen if that bounty does something or she attracts the wrong kind of attention?”
The guy stiffened. He got that kind of superior look that told me he didn’t give a damn about us and our jobs. All he cared about was protecting the reputation of this restaurant. “I think the real police will be called,” he said, emphasizing the word real.
“Ah, I see,” I said, nodding my head at the same time. “You prefer to have a whole bunch of uniformed officers trudging through your dining room and disrupting everything rather than to have two unassuming bounty hunters do the same. Smart,” I commented.
My well-placed insult didn’t do a thing.
The man crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I have assisted you with your enquiries. You can now leave,” he snapped.
I had every intention of continuing to argue with this guy, but Josh shrugged toward the door. “Let’s go, Beth. It will be his funeral, anyway.”
“I will be making a complaint to the Justice Department,” the guy said as we walked away.
“And it won’t have nearly as much weight as the complaint we’re going to make against you,” I snapped right back.
We walked out of the door, and Josh turned to me as soon as it was closed. I expected him to snap at me for being snarky in there, but he didn’t. He grinned. He also looked me up and down as if he were reassessing me. “Bethany Samson, you have one hell of an attitude. I like it. I see my skills have rubbed off on you.”
I chuckled, jammed my hands into my pockets, and started staring along the street. “I still sense we have an opportunity in there.”
“But is Olivia herself in there?” Josh pushed.
I pressed my lips together and tried to think. I really centered my attention on my magic, letting it course through my veins, letting it pump hard in my chest. “… I don’t know.”
“I thought Max gave us plenty of information, including photos – enough that you should be able to track Olivia down, especially considering you’re now becoming a sorcerer,” Josh added under his breath, keeping his voice quiet as another well-to-do couple strode into the restaurant.
“If it were only that easy.” I sighed. “I sense… competing forces in this case, though,” I managed.
Josh’s nose scrunched up. “What the heck does that mean?”
“I don’t know – and I was the one who said it. I just… something else is going on here.”
“Something else is always going on here. But knowing how you work, we’re going to have to figure out the whole case before we can find our bounty. So what are you thinking, kid? What do you want to know?”
Our relationship really had come far for Josh to ask that. The Josh in the past, though recognizing I had powers, had never fully trusted in them. Now he looked at me with the keen attention of someone willing to do anything to help you use your full skills.
I sighed again, tilting my head up and staring at a slice of the moon above. The weather was similar to what it had been yesterday. Hell, it had been the same for the past two days. A quick wind was chasing clouds through the sky as if the weather itself was stirring Madison City up like a witch agitating a potion.
I brought my hand up and hooked it over my neck. “I’m thinking I really need to know why Max gave us this case.” I looked at Josh.
Josh looked away. “I’m going to get in trouble if I tell you.”
“From whom?”
“The world?” Josh tried.
“What does that mean?”
“Never mind. Olivia… had a history of being suspicious of Internal Affairs. She was a prosecutor,” he mentioned.
“I know – I read her file.”
“Let me finish. As a prosecutor, she had to deal with Internal Affairs – especially when they brought cases against police officers. So she knew a lot about them,” he emphasized.
“You don’t need to dodge around the topic anymore, Josh. Max told me all about Internal Affairs,” I said, ensuring my voice couldn’t carry.
Josh looked surprised. “Everything?”
I swallowed. “Okay, probably not everything. Enough… to let me know that they stockpile Hidden Grimoires.” I really ensured my voice couldn’t carry now. “Enough to appreciate that they have some kind of plan for the Zero Prophecy. And enough to know that Max’s dad was the ex-director.”
Josh actually whistled. “I’m surprised he shared that much. You’ve got skills, Beth.”
I decided to shrug that comment off. If by skills Josh meant that I’d had one of the most emotional arguments of my life, then sure, technically I had skills. But somehow I knew they wouldn’t work on anyone but Max. Because no one, save for Max, would be so drawn on by my emotions.
I brought a hand up, latched it over my chin, and pressed my fingers hard into my jaw. “You are saying that Olivia didn’t trust Internal Affairs? So what would it take for her to become an informant?”
“I don’t know. Before you start calling Ma
x – he doesn’t know either. All he knows is she’s disappeared.”
“It would have to be something big. Her life would have to be on the line, or her family’s.”
“Or maybe she discovered that Internal Affairs isn’t that bad after all?” Josh tried.
I could tell his heart wasn’t in it.
“That’s not it,” I said with some measure of certainty.
He quieted down in that same way he always did when he realized I was using my powers.
I took another hard breath. I knew this was key. If I wanted to find Olivia, I would have to discover why she’d become an informant for Internal Affairs. “Just… just how dodgy do you think Internal Affairs are? And is the whole department dodgy, or just a few?”
Josh became strangely quiet. “If you’re asking me if Jason is a good man, I guess I can only answer yes.”
I blinked hard. I hadn’t been wondering that at all, but now Josh had pointed that out, my stomach twisted. It was a fact I’d been dancing around ever since Max had revealed his suspicions about Internal Affairs. And now it was a fact that slammed straight into me and threatened to pull me off my feet.
Jason was a sorcerer – and if reports were to be believed, he was the only sorcerer who worked for Internal Affairs. So didn’t that mean he was one of their most powerful assets? He’d also personally tracked down two Hidden Grimoires that I knew of. So surely that would make him part of the problem? If the whole reason Internal Affairs was so problematic was that they were stockpiling Hidden Grimoires, then Jason was presumably the means by which they did that.
I became cold all over, and for the first time that night, the racing clouds completely covered the moon.
“This isn’t the greatest place to have this conversation,” Josh pointed out carefully. “If someone were to overhear us—”
“No one is in earshot.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m continually sensing the environment for emotion – and nothing has changed. But this is important, Josh. We have to figure out why Olivia chose to become an informant. Was she… trustworthy?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“That she did something, committed some crime, and the only way to stop herself from being prosecuted was to become an informant. That being said, what the heck was she informing on?” as I said that, my voice became quick as I felt I was onto something. I even pushed up onto the tips of my toes.
Josh watched the move and narrowed his eyes. “What are you thinking?”
“That I’ve been asking the wrong questions. What kind of cases did Olivia work on?”
“Government cases. She prosecuted on behalf of the government, like every other prosecutor.”
“Did she specialize in any particular cases?” I asked, voice quickening as if I was a boulder getting ready to roll downhill and crush people with my argument.
“… Yeah, she used to work on cases that involved the gangs.”
I clicked my fingers. “What if she figured something out in one of her investigations? What if she came across something so terrifying, it forced her right into the arms of the people she hates?”
Josh ticked his head back and sighed. “I guess it’s possible. But not certain,” he added.
I flopped a hand at him. “I’m not about to confuse hard evidence with supposition, Josh. But we’ve gotta start somewhere. I think this is it. I think we need to figure out what case she was working on and who was threatening her. Because in her head, they must’ve been worse than Internal Affairs.”
Josh conceded my point again with another shrug. “This is all very well, Beth, but aren’t you forgetting something?” He jammed a thumb behind him, indicating the restaurant. “Is she still in there? I mean, because if she is, we don’t need to figure out Jack. We can just go and get her.”
I pressed my lips together and concentrated on my magic. I took a hard breath. “Like I said, I’m not entirely sure whether she’s in there or not. The magic I’m sensing is so freaking confusing. I can’t deny that there is an opportunity in there – one directly related to this case.”
Josh chucked his head back and sighed hard. “You know, my job was easier before you joined. That being said – I got a lot less done and I saved a lot fewer people. So let’s figure out a way to get in there.”
“How?”
“I guess I’ll go and put my foot down,” Josh tried. “I am one of the most powerful warlocks in Madison City,” he said as he puffed his chest out.
“Or we could just wait for a better opportunity,” I said as something forced me to tick my head to the side. That’s when I saw Max walking across the street, an extremely attractive, well-dressed woman beside him.
Before a pang of jealousy could shift through me, I jogged forward, intercepting him at the door of the restaurant. “Max,” I said breathlessly. “What are you doing here?” I asked, intending to launch into a plea for him to use his powers as the most powerful man in the city to get us into this exclusive joint.
That would be when Max reddened a little. He also took several steps away from the extremely attractive socialite by his arm. “This is not what it appears, Bethany. This is business,” he managed, “a business meal,” he added.
The socialite looked scandalized. “Who is she?”
“Bethany Samson,” I said, patting my chest. “Only other finder in town,” I added flippantly. Then I shrugged from Max toward the door. “I don’t really care why you’re here, Max. But it’s a great opportunity,” I said through a nervous smile.
Max frowned. Anyone would.
“You’re being weird, Bethany. Cut to the chase. Max,” Josh looked at Max, “we need you to get us in there. It’s… to do with that case,” he added without mentioning Olivia’s name. “We tried to get in, but the guy at the front desk kicked us out.”
Did Max’s shoulders drop down a full inch? Almost as if he was disappointed that I hadn’t just been aggressively propositioning him for dinner?
If he was disappointed, he changed his demeanor quickly. “Of course I can get you in there.”
“Look what they’re wearing,” the socialite hissed. “And what’s going on here? This is meant to be a date,” she snapped.
Max blanched. “It is not a date,” he said as he looked directly at me. “It’s a business meal,” he emphasized.
Perhaps Max was being so weird around me because of the emotional conversation we’d had this afternoon, but there was no need.
You see, I was fully aware that this wasn’t a date and that Max wasn’t at all attracted to the socialite, even if she was head-over-heels for him. My emotion-sensing magic couldn’t lie. Even though Max was always perfectly controlled around me, and I could only ever guess what he felt for me, he wasn’t bothering to guard his emotions around this woman. She was an acquaintance, and that was it.
“We really won’t interrupt your meeting,” I said to the woman quickly. “We just need to get in the front door and get into the dining hall.”
“Why?” Max asked, dropping his voice. If he intended to have a secret conversation, that wasn’t possible with that pretty lady hanging off his arm.
Josh appreciated this, and he cleared his throat. “We’ve got it under control, Max. We just need to get inside.”
“Is she—” he began, his eyes widening.
I felt his emotion again, and this time I would be justified in feeling threatened. As he thought of Olivia, his heart seemed to open, and genuine compassion flowed from it.
If there was ever a time to feel jealous, it was now. At the same time, an equally strong, competing emotion was vying for control in my heart. An emotion that told me I was a finder, and it was my obligation to track down the evidence of this case.
“There’s an opportunity to further this case,” I said blankly, and left it at that.
Max appeared to compose himself. He shrugged forward. “Please follow me.”
Though the socialite still looke
d scandalized, she obviously appreciated that there was nothing she could do. She stayed a step behind Max, crossed her arms, and shot me the filthiest look.
I just smiled.
Walking back into the restaurant was a different affair now. Josh had his head held up high, and the maître d’ took one look at Max, and frowned hard.
“Mr. Maximus C. Knights,” the maître d’ said as he opened his arms out wide. “So nice of you to join us again. We have a table for two waiting for you.”
“You need to make that four,” Max said smoothly.
The maître d’ frowned. “Are you expecting more guests?”
Max pointed to both Josh and me. “They’re already here. Please make arrangements for four,” he repeated.
“These… two are your guests?”
“Is there some kind of problem?” Max asked, his tone quick, giving everyone the impression he didn’t have time to waste.
The maître d’ shook his head, a fake but nonetheless expressive and large smile spreading his lips. “Of course there isn’t a problem. Now, please come this way.” He led Max into the dining hall.
Josh was a step behind Max, alongside the socialite, and somehow Max and I had fallen into step together.
As soon as we walked into the packed dining hall, I think every single rich person in Madison City looked up to see what was going on.
A lot of them had the kind of frowns on their faces that told me they had no idea why Max – the most eligible bachelor in town – was walking in alongside a scrappy woman in office wear and an overlarge leather jacket.
But about 40 percent of them didn’t look surprised. They looked intrigued. Intrigued enough to know who I was.
“Ignore them,” Max said quietly under his breath. “I tend to get that kind of attention wherever I go.”
“They’re looking at me though, Max,” I pointed out.
“Fat chance,” the socialite muttered from behind us.
She obviously didn’t know anything about magic. Otherwise she would’ve reacted to my comment from earlier that I was the only other finder in town. I didn’t bother to disabuse her of her ignorance.
Forgotten Destiny Book Four Page 5
