nice to have people there to talk to who are neither parents nor twelve.'
That caused me to laugh. 'I'll be honoured. What do twelve-year-old girls want as gifts?'
'What all women want,' he said opening a second bottle of Scotch and polishing off his fifth or sixth triple measure. 'Money.'
That made us both laugh.
'So where did all this come from?' I asked with a wave of my hand.
'The father looking for his missing daughter was very wealthy and when I found his daughter safe and sound, he paid me a lot of money. More importantly, he put out a good word to a few people who were interested in having some security work. It all sort of snowballed from there. Now I don't even need to do anything. Most days I just make sure everything's ticking along. Although, once in a while I still like to get involved.'
'Like today?'
'Yeah, that fucking sucked, didn't it?'
'You said it was going to get worse. How?'
Tommy sighed and re-filled his glass. 'I was hoping to leave this until it was confirmed tomorrow.'
A glare told him to get on with it.
'I recognised the girl in the basement. Or at least she looked like someone I'd met before. I don't remember the name, but I think she was the girlfriend of an LOA agent.'
I knocked back the rest of my Scotch and hastily refilled it. 'Shit.'
'You see why I said it was going to get worse?'
'Does Olivia know?'
'I told her my thoughts, yes. We'll see if I was right, but I really hope I'm not.'
Neither of us needed to say why the train of thought could only end badly. The murder of an agent's family member was almost as bad as killing an agent himself. The LOA would stop at nothing to find the culprit, no matter the cost. And Avalon would give them their full backing. Depending on who the killer was, and where they were, it could cause all sorts of problems, because I truly doubted that Neil was the only one involved in what had happened in that basement. The best that could be hoped for was that, if Tommy was right, the murderer had picked the victim at random.
We both sat in silence for some time, neither one of use willing to add fuel to the fire of what we were thinking. Eventually the Scotch overrode sense, and I told Tommy about what had happened between Sara and me at the clearing.
His response wasn't exactly unexpected.
'You're an idiot,' he said calmly.
'No argument from me.'
'She better not quit, or you owe me a competent assistant.'
'If Sara quits, I'll do the damn job myself. She loves working for you; she won't leave without a fight.'
'You're still a fucking idiot.'
I shrugged. 'Why did you keep Kasey from me? I've been back for a few months now, and this is the first I've heard of it.'
'I hadn't seen you in ten years, and I wanted to be sure that the person I knew and the current one were the same. I wasn't about to put my daughter in any danger, so I had to wait until I knew I could still trust you.'
I wasn't about to argue with a man who just wanted to protect his daughter.
After that, we settled into the comfortable conversation of two old friends, reminiscing about the past and discussing drink-induced topics.
I woke up on the one of Tommy's couches. Tiny slivers of sunshine made their way through the thick curtains and onto my face, causing me to blink and try to bat them away in my half-asleep stupor.
I glanced at my watch, which said it was nearly eight am. I had no idea what time I'd actually gotten to sleep but the bottles of Scotch, beer and vodka on the coffee table told their own story. I was very grateful that being a sorcerer meant having my magic heal me a lot quicker than a human ever could. It had removed the alcohol from my body and ensured I didn't have a hangover, so all I had to contend with was the horrible aftertaste and a desire to go back to sleep for a few hours.
Instead, I forced myself up and dragged myself into the kitchen. I had no idea where Tommy was. If he'd had any sense, probably back to his own bed. I rubbed my neck and rolled my head to unknot the muscles. The couch had been a comfortable seat, but not exactly the sleeping apparatus of choice.
I was still searching through the various cupboards when someone cleared their voice behind me. 'Hi,' I said after turning around to find Kasey standing in the doorway. She wore a blue school uniform and carried a green rucksack. She was the spitting image of Olivia.
'What are you looking for?' she asked.
'Tea,' I said. 'I know your dad drinks it, but I'm stuffed if I can find it anywhere.'
She walked into the kitchen and over to the counter, where she opened the lid on a small ceramic pot. 'Tea,' she said with a flourish of her hands.
I smiled and grabbed one of the fragrant bags. White tea, he'd learned well from all the times I'd served it to him. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil as Kasey studied me. 'Is there something you want to ask?' I wondered if maybe she was shy.
'You're here to stop more women from getting hurt, aren't you?'
'What do you mean?' I asked. 'Where does your dad keep the honey?'
Kasey opened a nearby cupboard and passed me a jar of the orange nectar, which I placed beside the cup I'd taken from a wooden tree-like structure and dropped the tea-bag inside. I'd have preferred leaves, but I've been told I'm a fussy bastard when it comes to my tea.
'So?' Kasey asked with more than a little impatience as I filled the cup with freshly boiled water.
'Yes,' I said. 'I'm here to help your dad, and apparently your mum, too. We'll find anyone responsible, hopefully before anyone else gets hurts.'
Kasey considered this for a second before nodding. 'They don't think I know what's going on, but I watch the news and read the internet. They think I'm too young to understand.'
I removed the bag from the tea and threw it into the bin. 'They just want to protect you.'
'From the truth?' Kasey raised her eyebrow in confusion.
I took a drink of my tea. 'It's what adults do. If we told you about everything bad that happens it might scare you. And whether that annoys you or not, they'd rather you had some ignorance about how cruel the world can sometimes be.'
'I understand that,' she said firmly. 'I just want them to be honest with me.'
'I'll tell you what, you ask me what you want to know, and I'll answer as honestly as I can.'
'I don't have anything right now,' she said. 'Can I come ask if I think of something?'
'Sure, not a problem.'
Kasey walked to the doorway and turned back to me. 'It's nice to meet you.'
'You, too.'
She paused for a heartbeat. 'Dad says you're the scariest person he's ever met. But that you're a good guy. You don't look scary.'
Her words caused me to laugh, but I had to think how best to answer. 'I'm only scary to people who deserve it.'
Apparently that was the answer she wanted to hear, as her attention was soon on the opening front door.
'Mum,' she shouted and darted off toward the front door.
'Olivia,' I said with a slight nod as she embraced her daughter.
'Nathan,' she said, not exactly sounding happy about seeing me. 'I assume you and Tommy spent the night getting drunk.'
'Better than therapy,' I pointed out, as Tommy made his way down the stairs wearing a clean, green shirt and faded jeans.
'Morning, all,' he said far too cheerful for the amount of alcohol he'd consumed, which dwarfed my own intake. A werewolf's healing ability at work made even mine look stagnant in comparison.
