Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1) Page 34

  Ian grabbed one and handed it over to Gabriel. "Barney had hundreds of notebooks, all exactly like this. We need to search the house to see if Barney stashed them anywhere." Ian's voice held a professional edge. He was a detective and this was his job.

  Gabriel did the same thing. They spoke as they moved through the apartment, though Mira stayed put. She flipped through a few more blank notebooks in a fruitless effort to find anything of use.

  Looking around the room, she wasn't sure what she should do next. Should she help search? Was this a crime scene now? Should she call someone? Mira was at a loss.

  She gravitated towards Barney's desk. Barney updated his website, postsfromtheether.com, regularly, so he probably spent a lot of time at that desk.

  After moving the mouse around, the screen came alive, but it looked as though a password was needed to access it. Nothing near the computer had the password written down.

  "You okay?" Gabriel asked from the door.

  "Yeah," Mira said with a dullness to her voice that made the lie obvious, even without Gabriel’s skill.

  For once, though, he didn't say anything.

  "Do you know if anyone has a key to his house?" Gabriel asked.

  "I'm not sure. William might know," Mira said.

  "Would you mind giving him a call? I don't want to leave this place open."

  "Is this a crime scene?"

  "There are no signs of foul play here. From what you and Ian have told me, it could be that Barney went away on his own."

  "He's not crazy," Mira emphasized.

  "I get that, but he does seem to have a hard time with things. Maybe the community can find out for us."

  "Maybe. I think I have William's number in my phone."

  "Ian and I will finish up here before long." Gabriel passed Mira his car keys. He looked at a loss for what to say.

  Mira wasn't much better. Neither of them wanted to admit that Barney could have met with a bad end, but the thought lurked on the fringes of Mira's mind.

  Outside, Mira found she wasn't comfortable standing around and talking on the street, so she got in Gabriel's car, rolled all the windows down, and then made her call.

  "Hey, William," Mira said when he answered.

  "Hi, I was going to call you today."

  "Really? What's up?"

  "I wanted to know if you'd heard anything about Tyler."

  Mira's heart sunk at the reminder. "Nothing yet."

  "Oh, I was hoping that with the earthquakes and the freaky weather, he might have reached out to someone."

  "Not yet. Um, I was actually calling to ask you about Barney."

  "I'm afraid I haven't heard from him."

  "When you came over last night to pick him up, was his door unlocked?"

  "He never leaves his door unlocked. There was no answer, and I couldn't hear him, so I left."

  "Do you have the keys to his place?"

  "I think I have two out of three of the locks. Why? Is he home?"

  Mira hesitated, unsure of what she should say, but Gabriel asked her to check with the community. "He's not and his door is unlocked." There was silence on the other end of the phone. "William?"

  "That doesn't sound good," William said eventually.

  "Ian and Gabriel are taking a look, but they said his place isn't a crime scene or anything. But they did want to make sure the doors were locked."

  "I'll come over," William said.

  "Do you know of anywhere Barney might have gone?"

  "His parent's house," William said. "He goes there every now and again. If he's feeling... you know, up to it, he'll visit people."

  "Do you have his parent's number?" Mira asked.

  "I'll call them. I'll make some other calls as well. Have you let the elders know?"

  "Not yet, but I will." She wasn't looking forward to speaking with the elders. After hearing about what happened last night, she wasn't sure whom to turn to.

  "It should only take me fifteen minutes or so to get over there."

  Mira laid her head back on the seat. It was Mr. Singer she had to call. He had been planning on talking to Mira today anyway, but she had no idea what to say.

  She took a deep breath while looking up his number and held it through the first two rings.

  "Good afternoon, Mira," he said when answering.

  "Hello, Mr. Singer," she said.

  Mr. Singer paused. "Is this about Sybil?"

  "Sybil? Um, no," Mira said, her heart freezing. "She's from Robin's coven, right?"

  "We're having trouble finding her," Mr. Singer said.

  "How long has she been gone?" Mira asked.

  "She was at the conclave last night, but there was a coven meeting this morning and she wasn't there. She's also not at home. We've called almost everyone."

  "I haven't seen her," Mira said. "Any word on the Hendersons?"

  "No." His voice sounded dull.

  "I was actually calling about Barney." Mira's kept her voice low, her normal voice sounding suddenly too loud for her. "No one has seen him since yesterday. He was supposed to be there last night. William is reaching out to his parents."

  "We'll wait until we hear more before incorporating him into our calls. About last night..."

  Mr. Singer seemed hesitant to go on, so Mira stepped in. "I'm sorry for all the trouble at the meeting. I'm not sure exactly what happened after I left, but I didn't intend—"

  "Never mind that," Mr. Singer cut in. "It's what I walked in on that I wanted to discuss."

  "Oh." Mira had no idea what to say. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong, but it still felt like she was being called into the principal’s office.

  "The way Mr. Contrey went about things shouldn't have happened."

  The way he went about things? "It wasn't something I expected," Mira said carefully.

  "I think everyone has started getting more anxious. There have been several disappearances this week. People are... concerned that Detective Burke alone may not be enough assistance."

  "Yeah," Mira said, allowing a trace of the bitterness she felt mar her words, "I got that last night."

  "The witches are meeting later today." Mr. Singer spoke more slowly, as though considering every word before speaking them. "We may discuss finding a volunteer to bind—"

  "Detective Flint is helping now," Mira interrupted. "Don't ask anyone else."

  "Two is more than any one person—I mean, one is more than any one person should consider, but two." He didn't sound upset by the fact, though, Mira noted. If anything, he sounded relieved.

  "I didn't," Mira said.

  "You didn't bind him?" Mr. Singer's voice rose an octave. "Telling a human without council approval is not a rule that can be broken. Not for this. Not for anything."

  Chapter 10

  Mira waited for Mr. Singer's short tirade to be over. "But killing myself is okay?" She hadn't intended to say it, but there it was.

  Mr. Singer didn't say anything for a few moments. "I understand that you've been put in a difficult position."

  "Right," Mira said hotly, "I didn't need to break any rules to tell him."

  "I'm not sure I understand," he said, slowly.

  Telling him that Gabriel was an angel was out of the question. Even telling Mr. Singer that Gabriel was supernatural went against protocol, but it was either that or risk them trying to bind her power and banish her from the community.

  Having to say anything about what she was doing ticked her off, though. "Well, I wouldn't want to say anything I'm not supposed to." She noticed tears falling and she wiped them away. They only fueled her frustration.

  "He's one of us?" Mr. Singer asked.

  "It's a breach of protocol to ask such a thing," Mira said.

  "If you can't be certain—"

  "I'm positive," Mira snapped. "He didn't know, and now that he does, he's not interested in letting anyone else know."

  Mr. Singer let out a slow breath of air, audible through the phone. "People will assume he's bo
und. At this point, I don't think anyone will ask, so let them believe what they want."

  "I'm sure he'll appreciate that," Mira said tightly.

  "You may want to let your mother know. She thinks—I mean she's worried things might get bad," Mr. Singer said.

  "They already are," Mira all but yelled, then took a steadying breath, realizing that she was the one that had signed up for this. "She doesn't need to know that."

  "If there's something we can do, I mean, there are ways to deflect—"

  "You know as well as I do that would only makes things worse in the end."

  "That is true. You are a strong witch, though. I'm sure you'll be okay."

  "Sure enough that you were going to ask me to do it again," Mira muttered.

  "With Tyler gone, you may be one of the few outside of a coven—"

  "It's a moot point now," Mira said, trying to get a grip on herself.

  "Well, let us know if there's anything we can do." Mr. Singer sounded lost.

  "Right, I'll let the others know about Sybil. One of them will call you."

  "It might be better for you—"

  Mira sighed. "Goodbye, Mr. Singer."

  She ended the call, not waiting for a reply.

  They had been going to ask her to do it again. Sure, he said that they were going to meet about it, but she could tell by the tone of his voice that they wanted her to volunteer.

  She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the seat. She felt as though she'd been shunted away. They'd probably figured she was already a lost cause, so they might as well have her go all out.

  They probably thought it would kill two birds with one stone. Get what they needed by having more officers involved, and get what they wanted: a powerful witch that they thought had strayed too far off the beaten path out of their way. Eventually, anyway.

  You did volunteer for this, Mira told herself. This is on you.

  Maybe they just thought she was strong enough to manage binding two people. She'd like to think so, but she really didn't think that was the case.

  "You okay?" Gabriel asked, leaning into the passenger window.

  Mira jumped and quickly wiped her face of any dampness she may have missed. "Sure."

  Gabriel opened the door and got inside. "Want to talk about it?"

  "God, no. William is on his way over and I let the elder witch know about Barney. They are going to wait until they hear more from his parents or William before adding him to their phone tree."

  "Phone tree?" Gabriel asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Witches won't use a computer. They contact each other by phone, each person calling two others down the line, making sure everyone gets the news they need."

  "Sounds sensible, I guess.”

  "Mr. Singer will tell the other elders. I have no idea how they pass information around. Um, I also told them that you were involved in the case now." Mira braced herself for Gabriel's disapproval.

  "Better you than me," he said.

  Mira frowned, but relaxed some. "I thought you'd be upset."

  Gabriel shrugged. "I'm going to have to take your lead here. I'll need to talk to people at some point. Do they know what I am?"

  "No," Mira rushed to fill in the details of her conversation with Mr. Singer.

  "So, no one but Mr. Singer knows I'm supernatural?"

  "Not unless you tell them or if you start showing up at meetings or something."

  Gabriel nodded. "And he's the one that has you so upset? It's not me, is it?"

  "No," Mira said, "it's about me. Me and the witches, that is."

  "The other witches are upset about something?"

  "I don't want to talk about it. I did find out that Sybil, one of the coven witches, has gone missing."

  "No wonder you're upset." Gabriel sat up straighter. "Why didn't they call us?"

  "They're still checking with everyone. They'll let us know later today."

  A car pulled off the side of the road a little ways up the street and William got out. Mira pulled down the visor to check for a mirror and found it covered with papers clipped to the visor. It looked like takeout menus. She snapped the visor up and used the rear-view mirror to check and make sure her eyes weren't puffy or anything.

  "On the way home, Ian and I grab lunch and food a lot," Gabriel said, gesturing at the hidden menus, "when we carpool."

  Mira smiled and nodded to the man approaching the building. "William's here."

  "He's the witch hunter, right?" Gabriel asked.

  "Yes, but he's also a friend," Mira said. "Don't let his title sway your judgment."

  Mira got out of the car and called to William who stopped before entering the building. She hurried around the car up the path, Gabriel trailing behind.

  "Thanks for coming on such short notice," Mira said.

  William looked troubled and didn't wait for any niceties. "His parents haven't seen him."

  "I see," she said, more to stall for time than anything else.

  "Who's this guy?" William asked.

  "This is Detective Flint," Mira said, then introduced the two. "It's okay to talk in front of him."

  "Mr. Contrey is going to get an earful when people find out," William said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "My dad was still ranting about Mr. Contrey when I spoke with him this morning. Dad was in the elders’ meeting for the humans yesterday."

  "I didn't know he was an elder," Mira said.

  "Sometimes he is, sometimes he's not," William said. "We're not quite as put together as some of the other races. Still, it's not fair what he did." William glanced at Gabriel and back to Mira again. "You're going to be okay, right?"

  "Don't worry," Mira said, "this may even help things."

  "I can't see how," William said, "but I'll take your word for it. Right now, we need all the help we can get, though that doesn't make it right."

  "Finding everyone is what's important now," Mira said. "Did Barney's parents call one of the elders?"

  "No," William said, "they won't have anything to do with the community, but I'll call."

  "Let's make sure the detectives have all they need," Mira said.

  "William, do you mind if I talk to you for a few minutes?" Gabriel asked. "Alone."

  "Is that okay?" William asked Mira.

  "It's up to you," Mira said, "but it's okay to talk to him."

  "If it helps, I'm game," William said. "Here are the keys."

  Mira took the keys and left the two men alone on the front lawn. Inside, Ian was poking his head into cabinets.

  "Find anything?" Mira asked.

  "Nothing," Ian said. "He has fruit and some milk in the refrigerator. Most people would toss that out if they had planned on going away, but I’m not sure if Barney would or not."

  "I'm no help there.”

  "Do you want to take another look around? See if anything is out of place?"

  "Sure." It wasn't something she was thrilled about doing—it felt intrusive. She couldn't get over the fact that Barney could walk in at any minute and freak out because people had gone through his stuff.

  This time through, she tried not to touch anything, but took a close look at everything.

  It wasn't a large space, so it didn't take much time. "Nothing seems out of place," Mira said after finishing the circuit of the apartment. A coolness washed over her and she froze on the spot.

  The feeling of people watching her—of standing next to her—was so real that she jerked her head from right to left, expecting to see people. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. It had to be her imagination. Barney wasn't here. There was no one to receive a vision, so it couldn't be the Ether pushing into the world. It wasn't possible.

  When she opened her eyes, she half expected to see the leathery creature from the Ether. There was nothing to see, but she didn't need her eyes to know that the Ether pressed in.

  "What the hell is that?" Gabriel asked.

  Mira turned around, afraid of what mi
ght be creeping up behind her.

  "It's not..." Gabriel started. "Come on, let's get out of here."

  Mira wasn't sure which direction to move. It felt as though the Ether surrounded her. If she lifted her feet off the ground, would she be able to stay in their world?

  Her eyes darted from left to right, and she began to ready one of her spells carefully. She pulled an old iron coin from her pocket. Holding it, she said a few words. Not enough to trigger the spell, but enough that she could throw it at any moment.

  Gabriel appeared in front of her, seemingly from nowhere. It startled her enough that she almost released the spell.

  "Come on," he said.

  She could tell he felt something as well. He tried to take in everything at once and had his hand on his holster.

  "Take my arm and don't let go," Gabriel said.

  Mira nodded and gripped his arm tightly. His muscles were taut like a tight wire.

  Was the room dimming? No, it couldn't be. Mira whipped her head around, intent on watching their back. That's when she really noticed Gabriel. At his back, almost completely transparent, Mira saw the outline of wings.

  Dreading what seeing Gabriel’s wings might mean, she tried to watch every shadow as Gabriel guided her out of the apartment.

  The feeling of the Ether lifted the moment they reached the hall. When she studied Gabriel, any trace of his angelic qualities was gone.

  Mira's breath was shallow and she watched the apartment, wondering what might be lurking in there.

  "Was that—"

  "Yes," Mira said, cutting Gabriel off.

  "Did you expect—"

  "Shouldn't happen. Shouldn't be possible. Not without Barney around."

  He stood in the doorway and watched the room, much like she did. After a few moments, he reached in, grabbed the door, and slammed it shut.

  "You have the keys?" he asked.

  Mira dug into her pocket and pulled out the keys William had given her. Gabriel took them from her unsteady hand.

  "I think it's okay, now," Gabriel said while locking the door.

  "Right," Mira said, "you're right."

  It wasn't until Gabriel rubbed his hand over hers that she realized she still clutched his arm.