“It seems I’m overdue to pay her a visit.”
Our host straightened. “Jeremy go wit’ you. Margo no mess wit’ Jeremy.”
Suzette tore her gaze from the computer screen and met my eyes. “Take him. She’s scared of him. Don’t ask me why; I’ve never seen him do anythin’ ‘cept threaten her.”
I texted the Draftmans. “Have you left yet?”
“Not yet. Just wrapping things up. Everything okay?”
“Fine. Jeremy will take us to Margo’s shop. Take your time.”
“No problem. Holler if anything changes.”
I slipped my phone back into my purse. “Tess, you okay to stay here and finish?”
“Sure. I’m almost done, but I want to see Wade and Gretchen anyway. Jeremy says they’re home. I’ll finish up and print out everything here so we can see if any of this stuff was given to the missing kids.”
“Jeremy, be a doll and leave the ring with Tess, please. And make sure you have Cappy get Roxanne’s boat ready before you go.” Suzette’s crooned words made Jeremy smile like a lovesick . . . crow.
By the time we were situated in Jeremy’s truck and on our way, Sam called. I put her on speakerphone. “The firm has quite the list on this woman. According to her file, she’s a lower level common witch, as far as her abilities go. She seems to have had her hand in every pot associated with trouble in the para community over the past several years, even though she’s never been brought up on any charges directly. Somehow she always manages to come out smelling like roses. There’s some conjecture that she’s been under the protection of the Curtens up until, well, you know. I think that alone warrants caution when you approach her.”
“Thanks, Sam. We’re heading there now with Jeremy.” I gave her an update on everything Suzette had told us. “You might want to give Tess a call. She can send over everything she’s found so far.”
“I’ll do that. I’ll also have a team start looking into any warehouses or factories in the area with links to the community.”
We hung up and I sat back in my seat, thinking about Sam’s words. “So, if the firm had all this info on Margo, why on earth would my aunt trust her?”
Jeremy, not taking his eyes from the road, answered. “When Margo firs’ come ‘ere, oh, t’irty, forty years ago, she make frens wit’ yer aunt. She help her in dat shop, den Stella, she lets Margo run it, den later buy de biz’ness. Margo don’ own de building or de shop, even tho’ Margo ask to buys many times. She always sees de monies and magicks Stella has, an’ she jealous. Ole Jeremy sees dat in Margo’s eyes when yer aunt no looks. Peoples like dat always jealous, always wants more.” Jeremy shook his head. “Jeremy warns Stella many times.” His expression serious, he turned to catch my eye, as if to stress that point. I nodded and he seemed satisfied, focusing once more on the traffic around us. “Stella t’inks Margo always in wrong place, wrong time. Jeremy know dat not true. Ole Jeremy, he watches and sees.”
Could mere jealousy really be enough motivation to pit Margo against not only my aunt, but the para community as a whole, I wondered. Surely there had to be more to it than that.
Rand’s voice came from the seat directly behind me and I twisted in my seat as far as the seat belt would allow, trying to see both men. “How would Margo know about the water fae or that they ordered stuff from either your place or Roxie’s?”
Jeremy's expression turned worried and he shook his head. “Jeremy don’ know.”
“Do you have a regular delivery person who might have said something, even innocently, to Margo about the type of stuff they were delivering?”
“Maybe. Jeremy finds out. Jeremy’s Suzette, she helps. De ghosts, dey sees evert’ing dat goes on der.”
Surely we couldn’t ask for a better surveillance team. I asked, “What kind of magick does this Margo have? Sam said she’s only a low level witch.” I knew from Zara that most of the common witches in this area only had the most basic magickal abilities. Potion making, small defensive spells, glamours, and, depending on if their family had any elemental magick in their ancestry, some control over the elements.
Jeremy made a disgusted sound. “She no have much magicks of her own. She steals an’ use others’ magicks.”
My brow wrinkling, I looked back at Rand. He shrugged and shook his head. “Care to explain?” I prompted the crow shifter.
He pulled around into a service drive behind a building that appeared to consist of all kinds of small, touristy-type shops and parked in a spot marked ‘private.’ “She steals or talks others out of der magicked jewelry.” He tugged at his bare ear. “Jeremy no lose dat udder earring Stella gives him. Dat Margo, she steals. She gots other magicked jewelry, Jeremy knows. She say she trades fer dems, but she no honest enough fer dat. Many witches, dey no go in dat shop anymore.”
“How did she manage to steal it?” I wondered. Every time I’d ever seen him he was wearing just the one earring.
“She an’ one of her employees use ta come ta Jeremy’s park many years ago. She knows Jeremy can hears ghosts an’ dat Madame Stella gived Jeremy dem earrings. Jeremy no use’ to always wear dem. Don’ know how dey gets into Jeremy’s place to take dem, but one of de shifters, he sees someone coming out. He chases and dey drops dis one.” He fingered his remaining earring, frowning. Then his expression turned smug.
