That was weird. “If they want to pretend they don’t know each other, isn’t Facebook a dead giveaway?” How good were these agents, really?
“Good question, Lily. They go by nicknames on Facebook: Rob Pricey and Shakespeare Smith. We found them by using facial recognition software. Although a spell would have done the trick too, we don’t want to alert anyone to our surveillance, and a spell might have tripped an alarm on their end. We have no idea how sophisticated their witchy technological skills are. We’ve had to keep physical surveillance at a minimum—they’re trained agents, and they would notice that in an instant.”
“Other than Agent Price’s tattoo, have we linked them in any way to Regula Pythonissam?” Will asked.
James regarded Will for a beat too long before he said, “No, but we’re working on it. We have to send someone undercover to infiltrate their little twosome with a view to becoming a member of the group.”
Something struck me. “Will, did Dana ever try and rope you into joining the group? I mean, she wouldn’t have come out and said it, but do you remember anything unusual that she took you to or asked you about? Because, honestly, if she could trust anyone, it was the man who… loved her.” Damn, some words were hard to say. Yes, their relationship was in the past, but the fact that he’d loved her still grated on me. Deep down, maybe she still owned a piece of him. Gah, not now, brain. Stop.
He stared at the far wall, probably thinking. “Like I told you before, Lily, she never wanted me to meet her parents, but I never knew her mother was dead—she kept that information to herself. As for joining groups, we went out with her friends a few times—friends she said she went to school with, but, come to think of it, they never mentioned anything to do with their school years.” His brow wrinkled. “Whenever I asked a question about their school years, someone always interrupted with ‘let’s do a shot’ or with some irrelevant story about something different. I only ever asked a handful of times, and I never thought it was strange until right now.”
I shrugged. “Well, you didn’t have any reason to be suspicious. You trusted her, took her at her word.”
“True, but I’m an agent, Lily. My feelings for someone shouldn’t dampen my instincts. I did think it odd that two of her school friends were five years older than her, but I figured she was just popular and must have known their younger siblings or something.”
Ma’am rubbed her chin. “Will, were there any times you were suspicious of where she went? Did you ever feel that she wasn’t telling you everything?”
“Not really. After the whole tea incident, I took some time to think back to when we were together, see if there was anything I’d missed that looked suspicious in hindsight. There were a few times she’d just up and leave for two or three days with the excuse it was a friend emergency, or a girls’ weekend. She usually had them organised for when I was working. I briefly thought she might be having an affair, but then I remembered how awesome I was, and I thought, nah.”
I raised a brow and laughed. “You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.”
He grinned. “Of course I am. I did think she might be having an affair, but she was so attentive when she was with me, I really did discount it as unfounded jealousy, and I didn’t think about it again. And look, it still might be nothing—she may have been hanging out with her friends, but… maybe not. In any case, it will be virtually impossible to figure out where she was and what she was doing. What we could do is some background checks on those friends of hers. They’re probably still around. I don’t have their addresses, but I remember their names, and I even have the phone number for her closest girlfriend, Anna. They supposedly went to the same school since they were in second year.”
Millicent made some notes. “Okay, I’ll get on that tomorrow. Just write down that info now and give it to me. I’m trying to avoid anything electronic, especially from your phone, just in case she’s managed to find a way around our blocking spells.”
“Fair enough.” Will conjured a piece of paper and a pen and got writing, then handed it to Millicent.
Ma’am glanced at me before focussing on Will. My spidey senses were going off. What was that look about? There was a high chance I wasn’t going to like what was about to unfold. “Will, dear, I have a favour to ask.” Well, this was highly unusual—Ma’am asking rather than demanding. I held my breath, waiting for her to drop the bomb. It wasn’t a matter of if there would be carnage, just how much. “We need more information. I’m going to put you on a case with Bard. I’d like you to get friendly with him, but make it subtle. When you have his trust, I’d like you to play up the missing Dana angle. I want him to think you still love her and you’re torn between that and the fact that she’s a criminal.”
Will stared at Ma’am, his serious look not giving too much away. He turned to me, his gaze softening. “Are you okay with this?”
I nodded. “It’s not like you’ll be dating Piranha again, so yeah, of course it’s okay.” I ignored the worms of discomfort in my stomach. It was scary that he would be made to confront his feelings for her, but I sensed that wouldn’t be the worst of it. He turned back to Ma’am. “I’ll do it.”
She smiled. “Good. I have an investigation starting tomorrow that I’ll get you both on. Meeting’s at ten. Be there. Tomorrow, I’d like for you and Lily to go for a run in the morning. During that run, in a very public place, I want you to have an argument and break up.”
My mouth dropped open. What the actual—
“What?” At least Will was on the same page.
“For sure Dana is spying on you and Lily—Lily is her ultimate prize, after all. I’m sure anything that hurts Lily will make Dana very happy. We need her to lower her guard, maybe eventually try and make contact with you again. If she thinks she has an in, I’m sure she’ll go for you, if for no other reason than to hurt Lily.”
And there it was. Boom! Blood and guts everywhere. My stomach was under my chair, and my heart splatted on the wall. There it went, sliding down, leaving a smeary mess before resting on the floor. Total carnage. “Well, there goes our weekend at your place.”
He looked into my eyes, the pain in his evident. “Sorry, Lily. But we need to do this. You know that, right?”
I sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Sadness swept over me. “At least it’s only pretend. How long will we have to do this for?”
“Will’s assignment is estimated to last a couple of weeks, and we’ll likely need more time. How long is a piece of string? It depends on how quickly the information gets relayed to Dana and how long she takes to respond. We’ll be monitoring the situation closely, though, so if we can get a read on where she is before she responds, we can move on to the next stage, which is finding out who the other members are, where they are, and what their objective is. Because your parents going missing was just the beginning, Lily. There’s no use us giving ourselves away when there’s so much left to discover. Right now, our advantage is that they don’t know your talent, and they don’t realise we even know of their group. We need to play that as far as possible.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” This hurt like hell, but the temptation to find out more about Regula Pythonissam and what happened to my parents was too strong to ignore. That’s what we were here for, and no one had ever said it was going to be easy. I was here to fight and fight hard, no matter what it cost.
I took his hand and squeezed. “What time do you want to run?”
He squeezed it back. “I’ll be there at seven.” We stared into each other’s eyes until someone cleared their throat—whether it was Ma’am or James, I couldn’t tell.
Ma’am addressed Imani. “I have a job for you, Imani. I’d like you to go through these and see if you can use your talent to pick out relevant entries.” My mum’s diaries appeared on the table in front of Imani. “Rather than Lily wasting time running all over the countryside, I’d like to see if we can pinpoint only the important events. Once that’s done, you can accompany her to
photograph them. I’ll feel better knowing she’s protected. James and Beren will be too busy working cases, and Will is off limits to her, so that leaves you, and since you’ve sworn to protect her with your life….”
“Yes, Ma’am. It would be my pleasure.” Imani turned to me and smiled. She radiated peace and niceness, and I had to smile back, even if the meeting had been rather heavy. “I might also have more visions or feelings about what’s going on. The more time I spend with Lily, the more I’ll pick up on.”
“Good. You have a short two-day assignment coming up, but after that, I’ll give you a day off to go through those diaries and see what you can find. We’ll discuss it here in a week—I don’t want to overload our group and spread ourselves too thin. For now, we have as much as we can handle. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember that, people. Any questions?” She folded her hands on the table, her poker face erring on the side of relaxed. Easy for some. “No? Good. Same time next week. And Beren can relay any information you find at the property tonight. I’ll get Millicent and Olivia to follow up during the week.” She stood. “Good night, all. And good luck tomorrow, Lily and Will.”
She stepped away from the table and disappeared. Olivia put her arm around me and leaned down. “Wow, tough break. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I don’t have a choice, and I won’t let this become more than it should. We need to do this, and I trust Will.” I looked at him and smiled.
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “The time will go faster than you think. We’ll just have to postpone our sleepover, but I’ll be thinking about it… a lot.” He grinned.
A swell of affection and happiness filled my heart. I returned his grin. “Maybe we need to go home now and say a proper goodbye.” I waggled my eyebrows. His eyes widened. “Well, not that proper. Or… more proper than improper?” I laughed and blushed. I hadn’t been suggesting sex, for goodness’ sake.
Olivia snorted. “Go for improper, I say.” She lifted her gaze to watch Beren, who was talking to James and Imani.
“You’ll probably get there before I will.”
“I hope so.”
Will and I looked at each other and laughed. “Why are we laughing?” I asked. “That’s actually so sad. To be honest, I’m sick of waiting, but yeah, tonight isn’t the right time.”
“No, but you’re not getting away with just a kiss on the cheek, missy. Let’s go.”
“Ooh, a take-charge guy. Nice.” I turned to Olivia. “Are you coming?”
“Hang on.” She called across the table to Beren. “Hey, B, can you give me a lift home later?”
He smiled. “Can I ever. I’ll be ready in five.”
Olivia turned back to me, her head held high. She waved her arm in a regal dismissal. “You may go.”
“Ha ha. Thanks, oh Queen. I’ll see you later.”
Will grabbed my hand, and as we stepped through the doorway, my butterflies took flight. Smoochy goodbye, here I come.
Chapter 10
Argh. Six thirty was way too early to be getting up. It was pitch-black outside and would be for at least another hour. The trees outside my window stirred in the sprinkling rain and light breeze. It was going to be f-f-f-freezing out there. I checked the weather on my phone. Starting at five Celsius, rising to a whopping ten! Great.
I magicked on long tights, sports bra, long-sleeve tee, and a jacket I could unzip and tie around my waist. The house was quiet and dark as I made my way downstairs. Olivia wouldn’t start work until eight, so she’d get to sleep for another forty-five minutes. Lucky duck. Hmm, or was I the duck, going out in the rain when inside was so much nicer?
As I sipped my coffee at the kitchen table, I decided to treat myself when I got home. I’d light the fire in the living room and take a couple of hours to just read and relax—goodness knew I’d had no decompression time lately. And later I’d edit poor Marcia’s photos. At least she’d have some nice memories of her birthday. Saying goodbye to Will this morning for the last time in who knew how long was going to suck, but that didn’t mean the rest of my day had to. Maybe I’d even grab a takeaway double-chocolate muffin and cappuccino to bring back and enjoy by the fire. I smiled.
Coffee finished, I looked at my phone. Five minutes until Will was supposed to arrive. Restless, I stood and stretched my legs. It was cold out, and I didn’t want an injury. Just as I finished my quads, there was a light tap on the reception-room door. I grinned and ran to open it.
Sexy in black, he stepped through the door and caught me in his embrace. I inhaled the fresh scent of his deodorant and tipped my head up for a kiss. Okay, so getting up early wasn’t all bad when this was the reward. When we were done, he cleared his throat and grinned. “That’s the best pre-run hello I’ve ever had.”
“I’m awesome like that.” I smirked.
“Mmm, you definitely are.” He sighed. “But now we have to go out in the rain and do our duty. Are you ready?”
“No.” I frowned. “Can we at least get fifteen minutes in before we fight. I really need the exercise.”
He shook his head. “You’re a weirdo, but okay.”
“How is wanting my exercise weird? It sets me up for the day and means I can eat the double-chocolate muffin without feeling guilty for the rest of the week.”
“Can’t you just eat what you want? I can.”
I rolled my eyes. Typical man—he had no idea what it took for us ladies to keep control of our fat cells. I had way more to corral than he had, and they were stubborn—they refused to stop asking for food, and they didn’t want to be shrinking violets, hidden away where no one could see. Each one tried to be bigger than the rest, practically jumping up and down saying, “Look at me. Look at me!” Life so wasn’t fair sometimes. “Yeah, yeah, show off. Let’s go.”
As soon as I opened the front door, the cold air slapped me, one-two, on both cheeks. Greeting the day was a violent affair some mornings. Wanting to warm up quickly, I set off at a good pace, Will hurrying to catch up. We got into a rhythm, jogging next to each other, the only sound our puffing breaths, muffled footfalls, and the occasional car driving past. There was serenity to the fog swimming across the fields we passed, to the other walkers quietly starting their day, with or without their dogs.
Unfortunately, we were about to shatter the calm.
We were approaching a bus stop where a few people, rugged up in coats and huddled under umbrellas, waited for their bus to work. There were plenty of places a person spying could watch from—behind parked vehicles, in gardens behind fences, or maybe they were following us with some kind of invisible, silent witchy drone—as far as I knew, there was no such thing, but hey, anything was possible, and I still didn’t know half of what existed for witches. Now was as good a time as any to fake the end of our relationship.
I puffed out, “Hey, what time do you want me to come over this weekend?” We had to start somewhere. I had no idea how this was going to play out, but I would pretend it was my reality so it looked real. Any doubts anyone had about our separation would make this a waste of time and endanger Will when he enacted the second part to this—infiltrating her friend network.
“Ah, about that.” He stopped just past the bus stop, within hearing distance of the commuters. I stopped next to him and jogged on the spot. “I’ve been thinking about it, and, well….”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean by well?”
He put his hands on his hips and looked at me warily. “I can’t do this anymore. I need some space. I’m sorry, Lily.”
My feet slowed to a stop. “What?” I let the reality of it seep through me, drenching me like the rain had. Believing it was the key to giving a great performance. My stomach sunk to freeze in a puddle at my feet.
His eyes screamed sorry as he said the words I never wanted to hear. “I need a break. I don’t want to see you anymore. I’m sorry. I really am.” His sad voice, the regret in his gaze—well, it pulled a thread that kept unravelling. Tears scalded my
eyes. He reached out to touch my shoulder. I stepped away.
“Don’t touch me. How can you do this? Why? Is there someone else?” I all but cried.
He stared at me and blinked, the pause confirmation to our audience that there was, indeed, someone else. “I—I thought I could get over Dana, but I can’t. I still love her, and I can’t pretend anymore. Shit.” He turned around, then turned back to face me and ran a hand through his thick dark hair. He shook his head. “Please don’t hate me. I’m sorry. I just can’t. It’s over for us, Lily. Sorry.”
My tears spilled over as I let the horror flow through me, more uncomfortable than the freezing rain.
His eyes glistened—was he crying? He shook his head again, turned, and ran, like literally ran. His speed would have been impressive in any other scenario. I heard a lady behind me at the bus stop say, “Oh, no. That poor girl.” And now, my shame would be complete because I was not running in the same direction as Will. I had to turn and go back past the commuters.
As I turned, the bus pulled up—thanks be to the gods. An older man and middle-aged woman gave me sympathetic looks replete with side head tilts as I jogged past. I gave a small nod in thanks and kept running. I sure hoped someone from Dana’s crew had been watching and would report to her. It would totally suck if I’d just gone through that for nothing. It felt like a real break-up, and while I ran home, I kept wondering if there had been any truth to Will’s words. Gah, don’t go there, Lily. He cares about you, and he doesn’t love Dana. But it wasn’t time to convince myself, and, now that I thought about it, I was going to have to pretend to be miserable for the next who knew how many weeks. Oh my God! What if it turned into months? We really could be over by then. Long-distance relationships were difficult, but at least the participants could still talk to each other and even see each other on video calls, but Will and I had nothing. No contact allowed. Hmm, how were the weekly meetings about the snake group going to happen if we couldn’t be seen together? Admittedly no one should know we were both going there, but what if Dana had figured out how to track both of us?
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