“The Cornwall witches seemed to think that Shonda or Irene sent me the burner text with this address. And when I told them that Irene was missing, Wendy said something likeLidia. Well, now we know. Though I don’t know what good it does us.”
“I don’t know what good it does us either,” JoJo said, “but I’m running a deeper background on Irene, Lidia, and their families and finances.”
“Interesting that Daveed Petulengo has been out of town this whole time,” I said. “What dohisfinances look like?” I heard tapping in the background, JoJo’s faster-than-light fingers working on her keyboard.
“More than strained,” she said. “Bank records came in overnight, and he’s strapped, in debt up to his eyeballs.”
“Follow the money,” I murmured, quoting the Spook School lessons.
“On it,” JoJo said. “I’ll try to have something on Petulengo and the Rosencrantzes by the time you get to HQ.” She disconnected.
***
I got to work minutes late, my mind full of worries, all as ugly as one of the slime mold blooms. JoJo met me at the top of the stairs with the words, “Daveed Petulengo just received an infusion of money. Fifty thousand into his account routed through the Caymans.”
“How is Wendy Cornwall?” I asked.
“In the emergency department. They’re still trying to decide if she needs surgery. Where’s Paka? And Soul?” Jo asked.
I closed the door on the narrow stairs, and Jo followed me to my cubicle. “I left Paka and Pea and Occam fighting in my front yard. I haven’t seen Soul since she took off just before the big revelation about Paka’s goal in the US. Maybe an hour, an hour and twenty minutes ago.”
“Soul washerewhen your text came in. No way was she with you then.”
I blinked. “Okay. I must be mistaken about the time.” But I wasn’t. Soul had traveled to HQ by other than mechanized means. She had... flown? Right. Dragons have wings.
JoJo continued. “When she heard about Paka’s little job, she cursed, words I never heard her use before, and took off like her tail was on fire.”
“Hmmm.” I put my gobag and weapon away.
“Before that, though, Soul said to tell you that we’ve been getting little earthquakes, registering zero-point-two to zero-point-three on the Richter scale, for the last hour. That’s too low for a human to feel, but she said you’d be interested.” JoJo did a one-eighty and left my cubicle. She was wearing gray and black clothing, not bright and vivid hues. That was different.
Probie scut work was supposed to be paperwork, research, and errands, so I went to work on the Germany/World War Two/Kurt Daluege/Rosencrantz/Daveed Petulengo relationship. I was done with the Internet and history research by lunch and had JoJo’s deep background information on file. I was still not used to electronic methods and so I printed off the background on the Rosencrantzes and sat at the conference table, where I could spread out my papers. The first thing I noted was that the Rosencrantz sisters had received financial infusions in multiple small batches of $2,500 each. This was well below the limit that would make a bank inform the US government about large deposits, but the total added up to well over a hundred thousand dollars over the last year. Each deposit had come from a bank in the Caymans, the same one that provided Daveed Petulengo’s windfall.
Someone was paying three members of LuseCo to do... something. So... maybe this was... The thought worked up through my subconscious like a seed sprouting. What if this was evidence of corporate espionage? I did a search on the finances of the other company involved in magical propulsion systems, Kamines Future Products, the company that was LuseCo’s foremost competitor in energy R&D. Surprise, surprise. Their company’s financial holdings were in the Caymans. That one key unlocked others. Sometimes being the probie put on scut-work research paid off.
I put my thoughts into a report that included the witches in theworkings at LuseCo and their relationships to covens involved in World War Two energy experiments. There was a considerable overlap.
Then I went looking for T. Laine, U-18’s resident witch. I had feelings about what T. Laine and Tandy had done to Makayla and to me, but that could wait until the Old One was safe. JoJo mumbled something about Lainie interviewing more LuseCo employees, so I needed to drive to the company. Again. My driving patterns were ping-pong-ball specific, but I had an idea and needed to toss it around with the moon witch. It might be nothing. But it might be something. It might fix some things. Or ruin them. It was that kind of idea. Worrisome. Problematic. But an idea all the same. Before I left, I gave JoJo my report and said, “Check out the Rosencrantz info first. If you find them and send someone to pick them up, make sure it’s a mixed bag of paranormals, with as many witches on the team as you can get.”
“We’ve got exactly one witch on payroll. Where you think I’m gonna get ‘some’ witches?” Her eyes flashed, and she looked at me like I was ridiculous. “How many aresome? Three? Five? A full coven’s worth?” JoJo was tired. With Rick gone, she had been sleeping in the office, grabbing catnaps when she could, pulling back-to-back twenty-four-hour shifts. Her colorful clothing had made way for comfy sweats, and her healthy eating habits had been replaced by delivery—pizza and burgers, and takeout from Yoshi’s Deli and Coffee’s On, downstairs.
“You’ll figure it out,” I said. “That’s why we call you Diamond Drill behind Rick’s back.”
JoJo spluttered with laughter. “Really?” I nodded and she glared at me. “You even know what Diamond Drill means?”
I leaned over her desk. There was a pile of earrings on the surface, and I realized that JoJo had no jewelry on, and no makeup either. “It means you were a hacker of the highest order, able to drill into any website or secure computer system, before you were recruited by PsyLED. Which means you can do anything.” I tapped her keyboard. “Anything.” I turned for the door. “If you need a dozen witches with really big magical mojo, you’ll find them, I’m sure. I’ll be back at LuseCo. Again. I feel like I live there.”
“Cry me a river,” JoJo grouched as I headed down the hall. Then she shouted, “Wait!”
I stuck my head back into her cubicle. JoJo was speed-readingmy report. “The Rosencrantzes and Daveed Petulengo were all three being paid off to sabotage LuseCo’s R&D?”
“The rule says,‘Follow the money.’That’s what the money said.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. They all three stood to make a lot more money when LuseCo was successful.”
“Petulengo needed money now. The sisters had reason to want revenge on Kurt and his family for what their own family suffered in the war.” I hesitated, thinking about Paka and vengeance and her being paid to hurt Rick. “Maybe revenge was enough all by itself. Maybe the money was just the tipping point. Maybe we don’t have all the answers or know all the motivations yet.”
“So why is the working in a triangle? Why is it generating slimes?”
