He was so good at this. Much better than I was. While I wanted to get this over with and get the fuck out of dodge, he was still maintaining the professionalism I’d been ready to ditch a week and a half ago when we arrived.
I was born to be in the field, interacting with people, wading through their emotions for clues. Saros, however, was a natural whenever we got called in for these interviews. He’d done thousands of them after earning his stripes deep undercover within the Vivaldi Syndicate—basically the vampire equivalent of the mortal mafia. Apparently, they kept a small number of witches in their crew to feed on, amongother things.
He never talked about his time undercover with them, but that was the point wasn’t it? Saros was the best at his job. He hated undercover life, but he excelled at it. The fact that he’d told me he wanted out after this assignment shocked me at first, but the more I thought about it, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We could finally build a future together.
“The facts are, Mrs. Wells, we have both you and your husband in our custody. If one of you won’t speak, the other will. It’s just a matter of time.”
Aurora snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Saros’s lips fell into a straight line, bitter annoyance scenting the air. “What can you tell us about the various disappearances on Starry Night Lane?”
She leaned back in her chair, the heels of her sneakers smacking onto the table. “Does my lawyer look like they are here yet?”
Her ankle sported a tracking rune drawn with special ink—the same one integrated into our false vow marks. Usually there would also be one to smother out any abilities the person in custody might possess, but she didn’t have one of those. Either they knew what her gift was and didn’t believe it to be a threat or they were still trying to learn about it, waiting for her to slip up and show it off.
Saros’s brows lifted a moment before his evergreen attention turned to me.
He’d noticed too.
Time for me to play the good empath to his broody asshole.“Look, Aurora, I know how much you and Fitz care about our community. How much work you’ve put into building the best supernatural street in Celestial Haven. You even helped them earn those six Stellar Street trophies posted up in the Coven Community Center, didn’t you?”
“Seven,” she cut in, gaze darting in my direction. Pride in the achievement outlined her in a rainbow of colors.
“Seven,” I repeated, playing along like I didn’t already know that dumb statistic that was waved in our faces by the HOA in their monthly newsletter. “See? I know you care about the street and want to see it thrive. Don’t you want to help us prevent more disappearances?”
Aurora uncrossed her arms, sliding her hands into the pockets of her jumpsuit. Feet coming down off the table, her lips began to part just as the door swung open.
“That will be enough,” demanded the redheaded lawyer barging in wearing an expensive suit. A young man, probably an associate at whatever firm she worked for, straggled behind her in a much cheaper ensemble. It was always a mix of who we got from their well-paid legal team. “Don’t say another word, Aurora.”
Her lawyer cut us a glare before grabbing the door behind her associate and holding it open. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to speak to my client alone.”
She raised her brows as we walked out the door.
“Ugh,” I groaned once we were a few paces away. “I almost had her right where we wanted her.”
Saros merely shrugged. “Should have amped up her anxiety.”
“Oh, I have been,”for days now, “but either she is so used to hiding it that it isn’t showing or she’s got some work-around to my magic that I don’t know about.”
“Think she’s another empath?”
I couldn’t contain my laughter. “She might have some kind of emotion-related magic, but she sure as hell doesn’t seem concerned with other people’s feelings.”
We continued down the hallway, making a swift left and running smack-dab into our handler, Agent Aleander. Anticipation popped off him in citrusy bursts as he nodded for us to walk with him, heading toward his office.
The room was small, stuffy, and full of boxes packed with files that reached the corkboard ceiling.
Aleander gestured toward the two seats across from him. “Get anything before the suit barged in?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, dropping into the chair. Saros sat in the one next to me. “It’s strange that she has admitted to plotting Acacia’s murder, and I still can’t put my finger on how they are tied to the disappearances.”
“Dr. Mirabel was researching the strange timing of people suddenly moving away within the neighborhood. There are lunar charts, street maps, and detailed daily notes that go back well over a year. We are still working through the wards on some of the evidence, but we have our best teams on it.” He opened one of the files stacked on his desk, flipping through the pages. Some of them looked familiar, but a handful were ones we hadn’t been sent.
Saros frowned.
“Are we sure Hazel Brooks is purely a victim in all this?” Agent Aleander asked.
My partner bristled. “I took adetailedaccount from her. Nothing from her memories indicated she was more than a victim, and to be frank, I’d prefer not to traumatize her further without cause.”
