Samuel’s gaze found mine.
“Keep working the Delaware angle,” he said. “If we can crack the shell companies, the money trail will lead us to a name and location.”
I nodded. It was the one thread Iwas uniquely equipped to pull. Whoever had set up those entities had been clever, but no financial structure was airtight. There was always a seam.
I was two hours deep into corporate filings when my phone rang.
Mrs. Chen’s name flashed on the screen. I’d taken the witch’s number the last time I’d visited her. I picked up immediately.
“I think we’ve got trouble.”
The elderly witch’s voice was taut in a way I’d never heard from her. Mrs. Chen normally dispensed wisdom and herbal teas with the kind of unflappable calm that came from weathering every storm Amberford’s supernatural community had thrown at her. Hearing her rattled made the hairs on my arms stand up.
“What’s wrong?” I asked guardedly.
“I saw a woman in town just now. She was buying magic ingredients from a shop I frequent.”
I straightened in my chair. Bo’s head rose from his paws where he lay under my desk.
“She was young,” Mrs. Chen continued. “Or at least, she looked young. The way she carried herself—let’s just say it reminded me of something I hadn’t seen in decades.”
My stomach turned. “The Thornwicks.”
“Bingo,” Mrs. Chen muttered. “That family had a particular bearing. An arrogance that went bone deep. I remember it from before their exile.” Her voice dropped further. “This woman had the same look. The same eyes.In fact, she reminded me very much of Esmeralda, Cordelia Thornwick’s granddaughter. Except that’s impossible. Esmeralda was ten years old when her family was exiled. She’d be in her fifties right about now.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “Can you describe her?”
“She was slender, with dark hair. Well-dressed. Attractive, in a sharp sort of way.” Mrs. Chen hesitated. “She’d masked her magic pretty well but I still got a hint of it. It smelled?—”
“Wrong,” I finished in a deadly voice.
“Yes. Very wrong.”
I thanked the witch and hung up, my mind racing. I worried my lip with my teeth for a moment before calling Arthur Holt.
“The Black Chalice Rite, could it make someone look younger than their years?” I asked tensely after we exchanged greetings.
“Possibly,” Arthur replied, puzzled. “Why do you ask?”
“Because a witch who looks like a younger version of Esmeralda Thornwick just showed up in town.”
A fraught pause echoed across the line.
“If it’s really her, then she’s capable of really strong magic,” Arthur said in a strained voice.
My heart sank. Like I needed more things to worry about.
“How’s the ley line map coming along?” I asked before I ended the call.
“I’m nearly done. You shouldhave it soon.”
A shadow fell across my desk as I hung up. I looked up. It was Samuel.
“Are you ready to go?”
I realized belatedly that we’d come to the office in his car that day. I hesitated and looked at the pile of paperwork around me.
My alpha’s face softened. “It can wait until the morning. We won’t be of any use to the Lincoln sisters if we burn the candles at both ends.”
