Gray Witch (Black Hat Bureau 5)

“You can’t leave Trini alone.” He jerked against Clay. “Emmett isn’t under her control.”

“Emmett is sludge, so let’s have a chat before he pulls himself back together.”

“I have nothing to say to you until you let me see my sister.”

“Then we’re at an impasse. Guess we’ll just stand here and wait on Emmett to regenerate. Do you think he can sense his brother’s dead? Again? What do you bet he hunts down your sister first thing to confirm it?” I hated playing hardball, but this kid needed a wake-up call. “That would suck, huh? She’s tied up at the moment. I wonder what Emmett—?”

“What do you want?” He connected the dots. “The bones?”

“Got it in one.” I hooked my hands on my hips. “Will you lead us to them?”

Gaze swinging between the globs of ectoplasm and the direction I came from, he stalled. “I…”

“Looks like he’s made his choice.” I jerked my chin at Clay. “I’ll bind him, and we’ll bring him in.”

“No.” He fought against Clay’s immoveable hold. “I’ll show you.” He grew frantic. “Please. Just help her.”

“Bones first.” I didn’t want to give him a chance to flake on us. “We handle that, and she’s safe.”

Fury and guilt and maybe a tinge of relief twisted his features until I couldn’t be sure how he felt. Maybe, after everything, he didn’t know either.

“This way.” He yanked on Clay. “Emmett is buried near the house.”

“Really?” That edged us closer to his sister, and I wasn’t buying it. “You sure about that?”

Frustration twitched the skin beneath his eye, but he held firm to his story. “The bones are in a stump.”

“The stump where you fed them that teen?”

An epiphany struck, and I finally had my answer for the Boos’ uncanny ability to manifest in daylight. The land was the key. Their bones were buried there, yes, but they had been fed there as well. That was how they drew strength to rival the sun. That same tether explained why they didn’t chase me out of town or hunt me down after I left. They couldn’t. They were leashed. Trapped. They could only go so far or poof.

“You saw that?” He pulled up short. “How…?”

“Doesn’t matter.” I knew the stump’s whereabouts, so I led us there, careful to cut a wide swath around Trinity’s location. “I know you’re a killer. Your sister filled in the blanks for me. She confessed to the murders.” Malcom’s kills, at least. “Do you have anything to add?”

“If Trini told you, then you already know.”

A diplomatic answer, which meant any deaths in Raymond she hadn’t confessed to would be added to his and Emmett’s tab.

Only after we reached the stump, and Markus illustrated how to swing open the top, did we discover the bones nestled in a plastic bag filled with grave dirt. There were spells too, fresh off the printer. Supplies for those spells. And a notebook with a kill list that was refined over several pages where he and Trinity had passed it back and forth while arguing the merits of who deserved to die for what they allowed to be done to them. The reasons were sound, from their point of view, and it ended with the name of the boy who had filmed Trinity.

“Samuel Todd,” I read the name. “He was the teen you killed after we checked in.”

Ballsy of them to commit a murder within screaming distance of people who identified as FBI.

“I told Trini we had to act fast.” His scowl cut deeper. “That something was off about you two.”

“I’m going to give you the same choice I gave her.” I slapped the book shut. “But I need to handle your buddy first.” I passed the book and other materials to Clay then dumped the bones into the hidey-hole. “This won’t take but a minute.”

This time, when I reached for Colby’s energy, I sensed the blip that was her exhaustion.

“Last one,” I told her. “Can you handle it?”

From high above us, her tiny voice drifted down to me. “Do you really need to ask?”

“She makes a good point, Rue.” Clay chuckled. “She’s just like you. She would rather die in the process than admit she’s too tired.”

“Who said that?” Markus tensed. “Who else is out there?”