It was probably too much to expect that she might be able to provide at least a single clue about who her kidnappers were. However, her description of her current prison made him think August Sellers or some other demon must be involved, since it certainly didn’t sound like a place that was bound by the usual rules of physics.
Don’t worry, he told her. I’m in Laughlin with Ty and Pru, and I know the three of us will be able to figure this out.
That’s good. Whatever’s going on, I think it has something to do with the river. I —
And just like that, the mental contact was gone. It almost felt as if he’d been holding hands with Delia, and then something or someone had pulled her away.
He wanted to cry out to her, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. No, she was hidden from him again, but at least he knew she was alive.
“Ty?” he called out.
“Yes?”
“I hope you’re done trying on clothes,” Caleb said. “Because we need to talk.”
They’d driven his Range Rover to Kohl’s — Caleb didn’t think it was a very good idea to use Delia’s Kona, even if Ty could flex his angelic powers to make it look as if it was registered to Pru — so the three of them were huddled together now in his SUV, their bags of new clothes and shoes safely stashed in the cargo section.
“Sellers must have her bound somewhere close,” Ty said, and Pru raised an eyebrow.
“I thought Caleb said she wasn’t tied up.”
“Psychically and spiritually bound,” he replied briefly. “It sounds as if her mental voice was strong, though, so I have a feeling she’s still somewhere in Laughlin.”
That was something of a relief. However, it wasn’t as if Laughlin was some tiny burg with just a couple of hundred residents. An exhaustive search would take a lot of time.
“Also,” Ty went on, “she said this had something to do with the river. We already know that Alba Sanchez and her family were connected to it somehow, so I think we should stick with our original plan of going back to her house.”
Failing any other concrete evidence, that did seem like the best thing to do. Except….
“What if Aaron Sanchez is hanging around the place?”
“I doubt he would be,” Pru said, sounding very definite.
“Why not?”
“Because as far as he — and the demons who’re controlling him — is concerned, the house has already done its job. It helped to trap Delia, and that’s what this is all about, right?”
Yes, it did seem as if Aaron had lured her to Laughlin for the express purpose of getting her close enough that the demons could grab her and put her in the supernatural prison where she was being held. All the same, Caleb couldn’t help thinking there were some holes in the story.
“If Aaron was already under August Sellers’ control, then why would he have bothered to put another binding sigil on the guy?”
Ty didn’t look too concerned by the question. “Those bonds have to be refreshed occasionally. Also, if Sellers is somehow trying to gain control of the river’s power, performing such a ceremony while actually out on the water would only give the ritual that much more strength. But I think Pru is right. The house has served its purpose as far as Aaron Sanchez is concerned. He isn’t living there, so I don’t think he’ll be anywhere nearby.”
And it was probably better to do something other than sit in a Kohl’s parking lot and keep arguing. On that particular Wednesday morning, the place wasn’t very crowded, but still, it might look kind of suspicious for them to keep sitting there.
“Okay,” he said. “Quick detour to the hotel so we all can change, and then we’ll head over to Alba Sanchez’s house.”
It did feel better to get into his new clothes. Even in the heat of the summer, Caleb wasn’t a huge fan of shorts, so putting on the 501s he’d just bought — the prewashed kind, since they certainly didn’t have time to wait for him to send them off to the laundry at Harrah’s — and a plain burgundy T-shirt made him feel a lot more like himself.
Ty was also wearing jeans and a T-shirt, while Pru had bought black skinny jeans and a sleeveless black top with some interesting lace and pintucking, sort of like a goth Victorian grandmother. However, while her green hair might get a few sideways looks, Caleb thought that overall they were pretty unremarkable, and not anyone people would remember moving through the crowded lobby at Harrah’s and out to the parking lot.
Once they got to the neighborhood where their destination was located, they had to wait a minute or two, since someone pulling an enormous trailer maneuvered out of one of the trailer parks just as they approached Alba Sanchez’s house, but after that annoying interruption, they were able to pull into the long driveway that led to the detached garage. Caleb was glad of all the trees that surrounded the property, just because someone driving past and sending a quick glance toward the place probably wouldn’t even notice his big black Range Rover parked back there.
That was the only thing he’d allow himself to be glad about, though. He hadn’t liked going inside the house the first time, and he doubted he was going to enjoy it any more during the second go-round.
“How are we even going to get in?” Pru asked.
“It wasn’t locked last time,” Caleb pointed out.
