“Now you look like you need an enema.” Maeve laughs wickedly.
“Hey!”
“You’re not trying to start a fire with your mind,” she says through her smile. “Magic is in you. In the deepest part of you. Blood pulses through your veins, but magic pulses through your spirit.”
I tip my head to the side and quirk my lip. “How simple. I just direct the pulse of my spirit at the wick.” It’s ridiculous. I give her a dismissive snort.
“It is simple once you feel it.” Fire springs to life on the wick. She spreads her hands and smiles. “Easy peasy.”
“Did you— How did you do that?” I ask breathlessly. “You didn’t even look at it.”
She rests her black nails over her heart. “Think of yourself standing in the center of a spider’s web. Each strand of the web connects you to everything else. One silky thread leads from you to that wick. Don’t concentrate on the wick with your mind. Go inside yourself to the vibration in your core and pluck the string.”
Inner vibration. I search for it. Feel for it. Close my eyes and wait for it to appear. I’ve got nothing. “What did you find out about Agent Fuller?” I ask to distract us both from the fact that I’m not getting this at all.
She sighs. “Really? You want to talk about him now?”
“Hey, I’m working on it. I can multitask.”
She leans back in her seat. “I confirmed that the FBI found the cavern under your house, which was, um, decorated with the blood of three men, all with mob ties. One of them was Tony.”
“Decorated?”
“Damien made a mess and didn’t clean it up.”
I shudder.
“They found partially burned bills on the boat with his body and matching bills on a barge in the Atlantic. The captain of that vessel was still alive, and they learned from him that his destination was the Caymans and that he drove for Genesis Corp.”
“You got Fuller to admit all that to you?”
She snorts. “No. I have a cousin on the inside.”
“What does any of that have to do with me?”
She adjusts her glasses on her face. “They also found copies of Echo Mills Today down there and put together that the paper matches what the counterfeit bills were printed on Echo Mills that’s published by Gold Weaver, which was owned and run by Tony under a pseudonym. My office was notified on your behalf this afternoon that you are the beneficiary on those Gold Weaver operating accounts, and there are millions in there, El. It doesn’t look good. Fuller knew before I did.”
I gape at her. “Why? The man was divorcing me, taking me to court to not only make sure I didn’t get a red cent but also to take this house. Why on earth would he list me as a beneficiary on one of his company’s accounts?”
She shakes her head. “The company involved in a money-laundering scheme under your house? I’m pretty sure he meant to frame you if things went south.”
“Fuck me!”
“Exactly. That’s what he was trying to do. His family members were listed on all the other financial assets, but the Denardi name is suspiciously absent from Gold Weaver. I think he planned to have you take the fall in the event he was ever caught.”
“Agent Fuller made it sound like he suspected me in Tony’s murder too.”
“You are inheriting a ton of money because of the death of a man… a man you were divorcing. Money from a company the FBI believes is a front for a money-laundering operation that was happening under your house. You’re a suspect.”
“Fucking fantastic.” I huff and flop back on the couch.
“There’s something else.”
I frown at her.
“I don’t know how you got on those accounts, but I suspect the Denardi family will want to talk to you about it.”
“Fuller said essentially the same thing when he was trying to get me to talk. Fuuuuuck. The last thing I need right now is trouble with the mob too. Can’t I just refuse the inheritance? Tell the bank there’s been some mistake. Give it to someone else.”
