The Lost Ones (Here Witchy Witchy Book 12)

by A. L. Kessler

  “That’s a shock.”

  “I know, the guys did it as a joke, and I can’t get them to change it back.” She shrugged. “It’s a great shock to all the new employees.”

  “And those who schedule meetings here.” A man stood up from a couch on the far side of the wall. “I’m Titan.”

  He towered over me, which wasn’t something I was used to, and I could feel magic surrounding him. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to intimidate me or if he just wasn’t very good at hiding his magic.

  “I’m Abigail. It’s nice to meet you. Please have a seat. I’d like to talk to you about the situation I’ve run into.”

  He nodded and sat down on the couch, and I pulled up a chair. Sasha walked out, leaving us alone.

  “You’re PIB. I don’t trust you.”

  “Look, this case has to do with elementals.”

  He tensed at my words and looked like he was about to bolt. I held my hand out and called a little ball of fire to me. “I understand what it’s like to want to stay hidden, but a young girl was killed, and she was an elemental. I believe someone is hunting them, and I need your help.”

  He watched the flame dance in my palm for a moment, and then he held his hand out and particles of dirt gathered into his hand, forming a rock about the size of my fist.

  I let my flame disappear and I smiled. “Can you help me?”

  He nodded. “I can. I help run an underground group home. We’re missing a few people, from employees to kids. I can get you a list of names and elements, but I don’t want any mention of sticking these kids in containment if they show up.”

  “Have you reported them missing?”

  He shook his head. “Most of them are runaways. Look, it’s a very difficult situation being an elemental. You’re PIB, and a vampire raised you. I imagine your experience as an elemental differs greatly from most.”

  I nodded. “I didn’t come into my ability until after I was twenty, because of a case, but your right, being PIB affords me certain privileges for my abilities. So there’s no missing person reports for the children. What about the adults?”

  He nodded. “They have reports in.”

  “Do the other kids know about the missing kids?”

  “Yeah, they’re all pretty torn up about it. One of the girls that disappeared, she was Martha’s favorite. I haven’t heard from Martha in a couple days either.” He hung his head. “I’m worried about these kids. If you can help us…”

  I swallowed. “The girl that was Martha’s favorite, was her name Lisa?”

  His head shot up. “You found her?”

  “We’re investigating her death,” I said quietly.

  He was silent for a moment. “We can’t lose anymore. These kids are lost, Abigail. Their parents were going to turn them into containment.”

  Lost.

  Like Melisandra had described me. “I’ll do what I can to help.”

  “And not get them sent away?”

  “And not get them sent away.” I met his gaze. “What I need from you though is not only the name of the kids missing, but the kids you have there and who works for you and anyone involved with the home.”

  He hesitated slightly. “Our financial supporter wishes to remain anonymous.”

  Like that wasn’t a red flag. “I’ll need their name if you want me to clear them from the suspect list.”

  He shook his head. “He’s not a suspect. He said he would send someone to help us. I didn’t expect it to be PIB, but I’m assuming it’s you.”

  “My uncle sent me.”

  He paused. “Oliver?”

  “He’s financing your group home?” I don’t know why, but it felt like an Oliver thing to do. “Good to know. I can cross him off the suspect list.”

  “He’s a good man, but we don’t see him often. I think we saw him last on Christmas, but he keeps the house running and the employees paid.” He smiled. “I’ll get you that list now, can I text it to you?”

  I nodded. “Yes, you can. Thank you.”

  He pulled out his phone and started typing away with his thumbs. A few minutes later I had a list.

  “I have a couple more questions for you. Martha said that she and Lisa were traveling with a sports club recently. Were all of you on that trip?”

  He shook his head. “No, Lisa’s mother recently signed custody over to Martha, so Martha was trying to provide her with a normal life. Lisa loved sports, and Martha wanted to show her she could have sports still, even if she wasn’t a ‘normal’ child.”

  My heart broke. It reminded me a bit of why Levi made me attend traditional school and try some extra-curricular activities, to show me I still could be normal despite my circumstances. “Do you know this woman?” I pulled out my phone and showed him a photo of Agent Ross.

  He nodded. “Yeah, she’s been here at the club a few times. I’ve seen her around town sometimes too.”

  “Has she ever approached you?”

  He shook his head. “Not me. She’s pretty friendly with the other bar tender though.”

  “Other?”

  “Yeah, not Sasha. I think her name is Faith.”

  Interesting. “Guess I’m going to have to come back to have a chat with Faith. Thanks, Titan, I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”

  “Thank you, Abigail.”

  I nodded and walked out of the back room to see Sasha sitting at the bar. “Thanks for the help. I might be around tonight.”

  She laughed. “You don’t strike me as the clubbing type.”

  “I’m not, but I might have to.” I laughed. “Thanks again.”

  I walked out of the club to find Merick’s truck gone. What the hell?

  I checked my phone and there was no message other than the one from Titan.

  I dialed Merick and waited for him to answer. Nothing but voice mail.

  Dread filled me. What if Samuel had gotten him?

  I tried again.

  Nothing.

  I was about to call Liz in a panic when Merick’s truck came around the corner. He squealed to a stop in front of me. “Get in. Now.”

  I climbed in and he took off down the street.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t answer. There’s a black car following us. They’ve been parked in front of the club since we got there, and I went to get coffee while I waited, and they followed.

  “So they are following you, not me.”

  “I don’t think they knew you were in the club.”

  I looked in the rear-view mirror. “That’s the same car that followed me the other night.”

  Merick nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what they want, but I really don’t like that they knew we were at the club.”

  Me either. “Head to PIB.”

  “You’re not supposed to be in office.”

  “Yeah, I know that, but they don’t. Typically, people following me either back off when I get to PIB or they confront me. Either way, it ends it.”

  Merick laughed and flipped on his blinker. “To PIB then.”

  We pulled up to PIB, and just as I predicted, the black car went away. I leaned back in the seat. “Hm.”

  “Hm, indeed.” Merick shook his head. “You don’t need a car following you everywhere.”

  “I don’t, and I think that car is going to end up belonging to Agent Ross or someone associated with her.”

  My phone rang, and I looked down to see Liz’s number. “What’s up?”

  “Do you happen to be in town? I have that cam footage and I’m not sure what I’m looking at here.”

  “Actually, I happen to be in the parking lot.” I kept my voice light.

  “Perfect, come in and we can take a look.” She disconnected, and I look at Merick. “Apparently, I was just meant to be in town today.”

  He parked the truck. “I’m going to go visit someone while you’re with Liz. Send me a text when you’re done.”

  “Sure thing, thanks.” I got out and walked into the building.

  Mandy raised a han
d at me as I walked to the stairs and went to my office. Liz was waiting by the door for me.

  “What are you doing in town?”

  “Had a meeting with someone about the current case. Turned out to be a good lead, so I have something to follow in the underground.” I opened my office door and found that the flamingo was at the left side of the door. “Who moved it?”

  Liz snickered. “I wanted to see what O’Donald would do when he walked in.”

  “You’re so mean.”

  “I have to get my entertainment somehow.” She shrugged and continued to laugh. “Okay, look at the footage. I have it saved in the case file on the drive.” She motioned to the computer.

  I sat down at my desk and started up the computer. “I have to go to The Underground tonight to talk to a bartender. Seems Agent Ross frequented the club and was friendly with her.”

  “You got a contact to talk with?”

  “Yeah, turns out that there’s a safe home for runaway elementals. Martha is an employee there. She officially adopted Lisa, which is why they were out traveling without anyone asking questions.”

  “We’re going to find a lot of runaways, aren’t we?”

  “Hopefully not too many. From what I understand, these were kids whose parents were going to put them in containment.”

  Liz flinched. “Ouch. Okay, we see what the situation is and try not to disrupt what they’ve built.”

  “I’ll handle it. The contact trusts me, but not PIB.”

  “Okay, look at the trail cam footage and see if there’s something there I’m missing, and I’ll work that angle.”

  I nodded and pulled up the file. There, in black and white night vision, was a man dragging something behind him. But even with the high definition of the camera, I couldn’t make out what it was. Not until it got closer to the camera. A body.

  Except, when the man stopped, the body got up. There was a bright flash and the first man disappeared and the second was half burned on the ground as we had found him.

  “Magic gone wrong?” I asked and rewound the video. I slowed it down, clicking frame by frame. Each frame showed the second man getting up and putting a hand out, much like I did to summon a circle. The first man held his hand up like a cup and the bright flash came from there.

  Even frame by frame, we couldn’t see what happened to either man.

  “Fuck, we need to find the first man to get an idea of what is going on.”

  “Start searching databases or get Nick on it.”

  “He sent me a list of four hotels that Agent Ross and Martha stayed at and the dates. I haven’t looked at it yet.”

  “Good, maybe we can make some connections and O’Donald won’t have to put a warrant in for me to get Ross’ credit card and cell information.”

  A knock came on my office door and I looked up. Whoever knocked stood out of the window’s narrow view, so I had no warning of who was waiting for me on the other side.

  I glanced at Liz, and she got up to answer it. The spell on the doll would keep me safe if someone meant to harm me. Agent Ross stood there and waltzed right in. Of course, I guess arresting me didn’t count as harming me.

  “We need to talk, and I need to set some things straight with you.”

  Oh, this sounded like a fun conversation.

  “Agent Jefferson, you can leave,” Ross said without even looking at Liz.

  Liz shook her head. “No can do.”

  “Shut the door and keep quiet then.”

  I cleared my throat. “Respect, please. Liz outranks you.”

  Ross took a deep breath. “You’ve fucked up my investigation. I want my evidence back and anything that you’ve gathered.”

  “No. PIB gave it to us since you arrested me on false charges. You’re supposed to be on a leave of absence right now.” I leaned back in my chair. “Anything else?”

  She nodded. “There was a reason I put you in containment. I needed you to get inside the facility where they keep the elementals.” She crossed her arms. “I hoped getting you in there would bring more attention to what goes on.”

  “There are easier ways than having me arrested. You should focus on the people who were killed.”

  “One person was killed, and I’m sure it was self-defense.”

  “We’re up to three now, and one of them was foul play at the hospital.”

  “Lisa,” Ross whispered. “Martha didn’t tell me she was dead.”

  So she knew about Martha and Lisa. “They don’t trust PIB. I’m not surprised that she didn’t tell you.”

  “You’ve talked to her then.”

  “She came here demanding to talk us. We have the case handled.”

  Ross hung her head. “I’ve been tracking this group for months. It took me forever to figure out where they were located. I’ve been trying to break through the security of the facility they keep the elementals in, but I can’t get inside it.”

  “So you were hoping I could. Why not just come to me about it? I could have planned for Levi’s people not to pull me out.”

  She shook her head. “Because it wouldn’t have worked. They would have just stuck you straight in the facility and not through the normal steps from containment to the facility.”

  I didn’t like it. “Sources say you’re planning on killing me.”

  She jerked at that. “What? No, I couldn’t kill a fellow agent.”

  Yet, she could arrest me and throw me into containment. I wasn’t sure I was buying her story. “The best thing you can do, Agent Ross, is back off and trust that Liz and I can take over and solve this case.”

  “And the children involved?”

  “I’ll do my best not to disturb whatever life they have built.” It was the best answer I could give. There was a chance it would involve social services, but I was hoping to avoid that.

  She nodded. “I’ll back off, for now.”

  “Give us a week, and if we can’t get it figured out, we’ll pull you in again.” Liz stepped up.

  Ross nodded. “I can give you that.” She stood. “Thank you for hearing me out.” She walked out of the office and I leaned back in my chair.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Me either. Seems odd that she’s confessing all that when you just got a lead today.”

  I sighed. “She shouldn’t have known if I had a lead or not.”

  “Unless someone told her.”

  She also showed up right after I’d gotten in. “I need to run a license plate.” I turned to my computer and pulled up the image I’d gotten of the car the night it followed me home.

  I put the plate number into the system and started scrolling.

  There on the screen was a car registered to Valerie Ross. “Looky there. She’s been following me too.”

  “So she saw you were at the club, followed you here, and assumed you had a lead?”

  “And I think she hoped I had information that I would share with her. Fuck. I don’t want another agent following me around on this case.”

  Liz nodded. “Me either. No more in office time for you. If she can’t find you, she can’t pester you.”

  “She knows where I live.” I pointed out.

  “Yes, but you have much more security at home.” That was true.

  “I have to meet with Agent Torrid tonight before I can go back home. I need to look at his footage of the blood-starved vampires and see if we can connect it to our case, or if it’s a vampire princess problem.”

  Liz chuckled. “And until you can meet with him?”

  I looked at my watch. “I think I’m going to go work at a coffee shop and see if I can put any pieces together.”

  She nodded. “Keep me updated.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I had no luck at the coffee shop, but Merick and I at least had a quiet afternoon. The sun was setting when Merick took me back to PIB to talk to Torrid. I walked in and went down the stairs to find his office. I’d expected to search for it, but Torrid was standing outside his office
, arms crossed, and waiting.

  He was dressed in a rumpled shirt and a pair of jeans with holes in them. He looked more like a college student than a PIB agent. “Princess Abigail.”

  “Evening, Agent Torrid.”

  He walked into his office, and I followed him. The office was perfectly clean, not a piece of paper out of place. The books on a case near the desk were organized by size and color. There wasn’t even a desktop computer. Just a laptop that sat closed. Torrid went and sat at the desk and folded his hands on top of the laptop.

  “The council wishes me to show you the videos instead of King Levi. Why they are trusting a mere child with this, I don’t understand.”

  I gave him a practice smile. “I’ll never learn if the council doesn’t let me.”

  “You’re not a vampire. There’s no reason for you to learn.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Princess, let’s get this over with.”

  I pressed my lips together, trying to decide if I was going to rise to his hostility toward me. “Just because I’m a witch and not a vampire, doesn’t mean I’m not a damn good PIB agent. Your case could be connected to ours because the evidence came from the same people.”

  He paused as he opened his laptop. “If that’s the situation, then you are more than welcome to work on it. If the cases are not connected, then I expect you to report it to King Levi and see what he would like me to do about it.”

  Crap, I was going to have to make that choice if Levi didn’t return. “I will present the information to the council.” I hoped he assumed that meant Levi as well, because if I told him I’d give the report to Levi, Torrid would know I was lying.

  “Very well.” He opened the laptop up and motioned for me to come behind the desk to look. I went to look at the screen.

  The black and white night vision image came up. A group of vampires stood round, almost as if they were waiting for an order. Their red eyes reflected in the night, and I tried to keep down a shiver as I recognized the faces. They were the same ones that attacked us.

  “Have we asked the Petersons about them?”