“Ah, she texted me on… Thursday?”
Siobhan handed over her phone.
Buying new dress for Saturday. Will Cam’s hot friend be there?
Siobhan had replied a few minutes later.He will. And according to the little birdy I’m marrying, he’s into you. Spring for the matching heels, sis. You deserve it.
Riona had sent back a line of heart-eyed emojis and used a charm that made them jump out of the phone and dance in the air above the message. We all watched them for a moment. Cute.
“Cam is your fiancé?”
“Yeah.”
“Does Riona have any problems with him?”
Her eyebrows rose. “No. I mean, I think she finds him a little dull, to be honest. He’s an attorney as well. Property law. But he’s good to me, and she knows that.”
“Was she having problems with anyone else?”
“No. Riona’s a few years younger than me— she’s only twenty-three. She likes to party, enjoys men, and attends coven meetings whenever she can.”
“What does she do for a living?”
“Everything. She walks dogs, runs errands, drives for Uber and Lyft. She’s always wanted to be an author, and she’s been working on her novel for the last year or so. She said all the jobs were worth it if it meant she had a shot of living her dream.”
“Does she have a schedule or calendar anywhere?”
“In her phone, probably. But she’d have that with her. I think maybe her calendar is synched to her work laptop.”
“Do you have keys to her apartment?”
“Yes.” She reached into her purse and handed them to me.
“I’m going to go take a look tomorrow. In the meantime, you guys can help by writing down everything you know about what she was doing in the days leading up to her disappearance. Anyone she was having problems with. Any guys who she’d broken up with recently, any difficult clients, anyone in the coven holding a grudge. Even if it doesn’t seem important, note it down anyway.”
“Thank you,” Maeve said quietly. “Thank you so much.”
“If the cops tell me to back off, I’ll probably have to,” I warned. “I don’t work for the Mage Council anymore, so I don’t have any jurisdiction.”
“You have the demons.”
I winced. “Not exactly. Listen, if you’re here ‘cause you think I can call up an army of demons to help…”
“We don’t,” Siobhan said. “We’ll make you that list.”
She got to her feet, and we all turned at another knock on my door.
Nathaniel poked his head in and nodded at Siobhan and Maeve. What the hell was he doing here?
Siobhan gaped at me. “Is that…”
“Yup.” The werewolf Alpha in all his glory. I walked them out, and Siobhan took a good, long look at the Alpha. I couldn’t blame her. He was built like a Greek god, and he radiated both dominance and threat. Even a happily engaged woman couldn’t help but notice.
Nathaniel nodded at the two women as they left. Then he sauntered in and sat down on the floor. He stretched out his long legs and glanced around my office. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
I merely raised one eyebrow. Seeing the werewolf Alpha out of his territory was a surreal experience.
Of course, the sheer alpha-ness of Nathaniel meant that if anyone walked into my office, they’d immediately assume it was his territory. The thought made me scowl.
