Protector (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 5) (10 page)

“I’m fine,” she said, wearing a hesitant smile. A quick glance up at Alex as he brought in the glasses of ice water and handed them to Marie and Andre, and she went on, “Alex has been taking very good care of me.”

Something flickered in Marie’s eyes at that comment, but she only said, “That’s good to hear.” After murmuring a thank-you to Alex for the water, she continued, “Any more visions?”

Caitlin bit her lip. Alex knew he wouldn’t want to be her, to have to relate what she’d seen the night before to this cold-looking woman. Never mind that Andre was giving Caitlin an encouraging nod, as if trying to let her know that it would all be okay, that she didn’t have to worry about what Marie would say in response to whatever report she might have to give.

“Last night,” Caitlin said, her voice quiet, tense. “I only saw Danica. She was with Matías.”

“You saw him?” Marie asked, her tone sharpening. “It was definitely him?”

A small shudder passed over Caitlin’s slender frame. “Unfortunately, yes.” Her hands knotted together in her lap, and Alex wished he could sink down next to her on the love seat and put his arm around her, give her a comforting hug. Since he doubted that would go over very well with Caitlin or her current audience, he remained where he was, leaning up against the arm of the love seat, watching but not actually participating in the current convo.

“What did you see, Caitlin?”

There would be no arguing with that calm, cool voice. Marie Begonie was obviously used to having her questions answered, and it seemed just as obvious that Caitlin knew she couldn’t avoid providing some kind of answer. She seemed to brace herself, shoulders going rigid, and then, in a tight, dispassionate tone that didn’t sound at all like her, she related what she had seen in the vision the night before. No embellishment, no pausing to make an attempt at interpreting those images.

Just the facts, ma’am,
as his grandfather sometimes would joke.

Andre looked horrified, as one might expect, but Marie showed very little reaction at all, save the smallest tightening of her mouth. Then she said, “But you saw nothing else? Nothing that would indicate where they were?”

Caitlin shrugged. Frustration was clear in her voice as she replied, “No. I’ve been wracking my brains. There just wasn’t enough detail. And nothing personal lying around that I could see — no photographs, no pieces of unopened mail. Nothing at all, except those saints’ candles. Oh, and I think I saw Danica’s earrings lying on the nightstand next to the ashtray. But while that helps to show it was really Danica I was seeing there, it doesn’t give any more information as to where she might be.”

“Any sign of Roslyn?” Andre inquired.

“No. Matías and Danica were alone. There was light coming down the hallway outside the bedroom, so somebody else might have been in the house…apartment…whatever it was…but I didn’t hear anyone or see anything.”

For a long moment, neither Marie nor Andre said anything. They did share a single significant look, but as Alex didn’t know them very well, he couldn’t hazard a guess as to what they were thinking. Then Marie said, “Caitlin, do you have anything that belonged to Roslyn or Danica? Sometimes holding a personal item helps me focus in on someone.”

Caitlin began to shake her head, then seemed to stop herself. “You know, I think I do. I borrowed a bracelet from Danica. It should be in with the rest of my stuff.”

“Please get it for me.”

Yes, Marie had said “please,” but there was no missing the note of command in her voice. Caitlin got up from the love seat and hurried down the hallway toward the guest room. After she was gone, Marie fixed Alex with the sort of piercing gaze that made him think she must have noticed a stain on his shirt, or maybe a piece of ham sandwich stuck between his teeth.

“And what is your clan doing about all this?” she asked.

“Doing?”

“This…crime…happened on your territory. Surely your
prima
must be taking some action of her own.”

Irritated by the note of cool accusation in her voice, he responded, “Besides having you come down here?”

“That was not something offered by Maya, or your own mother, who seems to be acting as her deputy these days.” Something flashed in Marie’s dark eyes. Anger? “This was something Connor and Angela requested, which is why I am here. But I want to know what your own people are doing. In the end, the responsibility for what happens to those two girls will fall on the de la Paz clan.”

Was that a threat? It sure sounded like a threat. Although at first he’d been glad that his mother hadn’t chosen to attend this meeting, had appeared to think Alex could handle things on his own, now he wasn’t so certain. Inter-clan diplomacy wasn’t exactly his forte. He’d seen something of how Maya ran things, just because she was his grandmother and so he’d been around her far more than your average member of the clan. Still, it wasn’t enough exposure to give him the sort of experience he needed for this kind of situation.

“We’re looking into it,” he said, which was basically a non-answer, but better than telling Marie to go to hell. “And of course having Caitlin here is a big help, since we don’t have a seer of our own.”

The Wilcox witch’s lips thinned at that remark. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut; that Caitlin had turned out to be a seer at all was probably a sore subject with Marie Begonie.

But then Caitlin returned, holding a bracelet of woven leather and turquoise beads. If she noticed the tension in the room, she didn’t give any indication. Or possibly she’d decided the best thing to do was ignore it.

“Here’s the bracelet,” she said, handing it to Marie.

She took it, turning it over in her hand, letting a finger slide over the surface of a smoothly polished bead. “When did she loan this to you?”

“Right before we left. I said it would be cute with one of the tops I was packing, and she told me to go ahead and take it, since she wasn’t planning on wearing it.”

“Good. Then she’s handled it recently.”

Caitlin nodded and resumed her place on the love seat. As she settled herself, she looked up at Alex, her glance clearly questioning, but he knew he couldn’t say anything in front of Andre and Marie. Alex knew he’d never been the best at concealing his emotions, so God only knew what was on his face right then. Irritation…worry? About all he could do was hope that Marie would think his expression stemmed from being troubled over the current situation and not anything she might have said.

They were all silent as Marie turned the bracelet over and over in her hand. Then she shook her head. “I’m not getting anything. Is there someplace where I can go to sit quietly?”

The house had three bedrooms, but Caitlin’s stuff was in the guest room, and the other bedroom held his home office. Well, what he called his office. It was really more of a man cave, what with the big TV mounted on one wall and a console that held his various gaming equipment. Yes, it had a desk, which was where his laptop usually hung out, but it still didn’t feel like the sort of place Marie was asking about.

“On the patio?” he suggested. “It’s usually pretty quiet out there, and if you think it’s too warm, I can turn on the ceiling fans.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” she said, rising from the couch. Andre made a movement, as if to get up as well, but she made a quelling gesture with one hand and he subsided, not looking all that comfortable.

Alex decided to ignore that exchange and instead pointed toward the French doors that opened from the living room onto the patio. “Right through there. They’re unlocked.”

She nodded and went outside, letting in a waft of warm air. The day was clear, the sun bright. He had to hope she could either figure out the ceiling fans or would take off the sweater she wore over her T-shirt and denim skirt. That sweater had probably been necessary up in Flagstaff, but it sure wasn’t needed here.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw her pull out one of the chairs at the patio table and sit down, taking the exact spot where Caitlin had sat the night before. But since Marie obviously didn’t want an audience, he made himself turn back toward Andre.

The older man seemed to recognize Alex’s unease. “She can come on a little strong,” he said. “I apologize for that. She’s just worried. We all are.”

Caitlin swallowed. “I am so sorry about not saying anything about my visions before this. I never thought — ”

Andre held up a hand. “It’s — well, I’m not sure if I can say it’s all right, exactly, but what’s done is done. The best we can do now is hope that your talents, combined with Marie’s, will be enough to guide us to those girls before…before anything else can happen to them.”

His expression was grim, and Alex couldn’t blame him. For all any of them knew, what Caitlin had seen the night before was only the smallest taste of what Danica and Roslyn might be enduring even as the rest of them sat here, far away from any danger. Alex reminded himself that Andre was Angela’s father, and very likely was putting himself in the places of Roslyn’s and Danica’s fathers, both of whom must be worried sick about their daughters, but who could only sit and wait while the elders of their clans attempted to effect some kind of rescue.

“I hope so, too,” Caitlin said. “I’ve been trying and trying, hoping to get something else to come through, but…I just can’t force the visions.”

“It’s all right,” Andre told her, although some hesitation in his voice told Alex the other man wasn’t quite as all right with it as he wanted Caitlin to think. Maybe he thought, after being married to Marie for the past few years, that the whole seer thing came that naturally to everyone who’d been born with the gift.

They all fell silent then. Alex wished he could think of something to say that would break the tension in the room, but every option that crossed his mind sounded worse than the last.
Glad to see you’re putting that communications degree to good use,
he thought, even though he knew none of the classes he’d taken at U of A had exactly covered this type of situation.

The sound of the French door opening made everyone look up. A spark of hope flared in Caitlin’s eyes as Marie entered the room, but the grim expression on the older woman’s face told them all that she’d had no luck, even when granted the peace and quiet she’d requested.

“Nothing,” she said, crossing the living room and setting Danica’s bracelet down on the coffee table. “Normally, I should have been able to pick up something, even if I couldn’t get a great deal of detail. But it’s as if she’s hidden behind some kind of dark curtain, some sort of barrier that my Sight can’t penetrate.” Marie’s brows drew together, and she shook her head, lips compressing into a tight line that was already familiar to Alex. “If that had been Roslyn’s bracelet, I might have understood it more. I don’t know the girl — I might have seen her in passing at a family gathering here or there, but that would be the extent of our contact. But Danica? I’ve known her since she was born. I should have been able to detect some trace of her.” Her gaze sharpened, that laser-beam focus falling on Caitlin, who flinched. “How is that you’re able to have visions of her, when you’ve only been friends for a few months?”

“More than a year,” Caitlin said. Her tone was quiet but firm, and her chin lifted as she looked up at the other woman. “We’ve been friends for over a year now. I wouldn’t have moved in with someone I’d only known for a few months.”

That show of defiance, mild as it was, made Alex think that Caitlin wasn’t quite as ready to get walked over by Marie Begonie as he’d worried she might be. And Marie seemed to notice, too; she didn’t quite scowl down at Caitlin, but her expression turned even more grim.

“Be that as it may, it still doesn’t explain how you’re able to see her when someone who’s known Danica her entire life cannot.”

“Maybe we won’t ever be able to explain it,” Andre said thoughtfully, and Marie’s gaze shifted to him, then softened. Prickly she might be, but that prickliness didn’t appear to extend to her husband. “We’re talking about magic here, talents that run in our blood. This isn’t science, where things can be measured exactly, and where certain inputs will always return the same results. Perhaps we’re meant to trust in Caitlin’s talents and see what they can do for Danica and Roslyn.”

That sounded sensible to Alex, but, judging by the stricken look on her face, it seemed Caitlin didn’t entirely agree. No doubt she’d been hoping that Marie would swoop in and pinpoint exactly where the two kidnapped girls had been taken, and that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, these things were rarely that easy.

“You may be right,” Marie said, and she let out a very small sigh, the first sign of anything less than absolute certainty Alex had seen in her. “At any rate, I can tell that I need to let it go for now. I’ll try again — later tonight, most likely.”

She nodded toward Andre, and he stood up.

Alex said, “Are you sure there isn’t anything else you could try?” Not that he really wanted to prolong their visit, but at the same time, he hated the look of helpless worry on Caitlin’s face, the realization that she really might have to do this on her own.

Well, not entirely on her own. He’d make sure he stuck with her until this thing came to its conclusion…whatever that might turn out to be.

“No,” Marie said flatly. “Not now. There is no point in beating my head against a wall. As I said, I will try again when I’ve given myself a chance to rest.”

Caitlin got up then as well, asking, “Are you staying in town?”

“For the night, yes. Although I doubt there’s any reason for us to stay.” She’d set her purse down next to the coffee table, and now she bent to retrieve it. “If I have any news, I will let you know. Alex, your mother gave me your cell number. I assume it’s all right for me to call you if anything changes?”

“Sure,” he said, although he could think of roughly a hundred other people he’d rather have his phone number than Marie Begonie.

Something around her mouth seemed to twitch, as if she’d guessed what he was thinking. But then her gaze moved past him to Caitlin, and Marie added, “If you should have any more visions, let me know immediately. My own cell number was in the email Alex’s mother sent him this morning.”