He blew out a frustrated breath. “Top pocket.”
I stepped forward, carefully plucked the key free, and shoved it into my pocket.
Belle, you want to go for a drive?
It’s a toss-up between that or drink myself into a stupor, and we do have to work tomorrow. She paused. You don’t think this could be a trap?
There’s no magic on James except mine now, and the protection disks weren’t Clayton’s or my father’s, so neither of them would have felt their destruction. Presuming, of course, they’d been close enough to do so, and I doubted it.
And if, as I suspect, you find nothing there, why don’t we then go on up to the clearing and talk to Katie? The sooner you get some answers to those questions you raised, the better.
Meaning she’d been listening in again.
I’m always listening in. It’s what a good familiar does. She paused. Well, except for personal times. Not interested in hearing any of that.
I half turned as Aiden’s truck appeared. We should be there in twenty.
I’ll be waiting with coffee, extra holy water, and the location of his hotel.
Aiden tipped James upright, cut off the cable tie, and then dragged him across to the truck, shoving him into the rear and fastening him securely before starting the truck and heading off. It took just over twenty minutes to get back to the café; I leaned across the seat and quickly kissed him. “You still planning to stay overnight?”
He nodded. “I’ll be a couple hours though—we’ll need to question our suspect further and then process him.”
I hesitated. “If we’re not there, don’t panic. I need to go talk to Katie.”
His eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“Because she’s in charge of the wild magic, and it might be possible for it to do some of the leg work for us. Clayton and my father might be able to hide from us, but no spell they could ever create will hide from the wild magic.”
He frowned. “The wild magic in and of itself can’t communicate with you though.”
“No, but Katie will be aware the minute anything is found, and she can come find me. She’s done it before.”
He didn’t look happy, but he cupped my cheek and brushed his thumb lightly across my lips. “Please promise me you’ll be careful. Please don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t.”
I think he’ll consider the two of us investigating the suspect’s accommodation alone to be stupid.
Probably. We still have to do it, though. I kissed Aiden’s thumb and then grabbed the pack and climbed out. Once he was out of sight, I flung the pack over my shoulder and then walked around to the parking area.
Belle came out of the rear door, two travel mugs and several bottles of holy water tucked into a cardboard travel tray. She locked the door with her free hand, then reached into her pocket and tossed a small round object my way. I caught it and realized it was Ashworth’s diversion charm. It was a palm-sized wooden disk deeply etched with witch runes. Though its magic was currently inactive, its thick lines swirled around the disk, providing intriguing glimpses of the power and complexity of the spell. According to Ashworth, it would haze my aura and stop a tracer being used to find me. Whether it would stop a tracker on the truck, I couldn’t say.
I pressed the center of the charm to activate it, shoved it into the backpack, and tossed that onto the rear seat. Then, slowly and carefully, I went over the entire vehicle, looking for a tracking spell. I found it attached to the exhaust pipe, of all places.
I squatted to study it. Once again, the magic within was neither my father’s nor Clayton’s, but it was a whole lot more powerful than the charms given to James.
Belle squatted down beside me. “Can you defuse it?”
“Maybe.” I reached out and carefully plucked the outer thread free. The rest of the spell vibrated in response, but I couldn’t feel anything to suggest additional layers had been added to prevent exactly what I was about to do. I narrowed my gaze and carefully deactivated the spell. Once inert, I plucked it free, then rose and tossed it into the nearby bin.
“Given how exposed our car is out here,” Belle commented. “I think we should keep checking for trackers.”
“And not just magical. Aiden said it’s possible they’re using electronic ones as well.”
Alarm flitted across her features. “And how are we supposed to find them?”
“We don’t—he will.”