Part 6 (1/2)
Jackson glanced through the file. ”Anything about the parents or the fire ping as suspicious?”
”Not if you're looking at the normal sources.” Alec rocked his chair back and forth. ”But I made some calls, too. I have a friend in that area. Remember how I said I met a cougar one time?”
Jackson arched an eyebrow. ”One of the parents?”
”The father,” Alec confirmed. ”Simon Evans. My friend told me his full name last night. Apparently, Simon told everyone that he had a job opportunity in the early eighties and disappeared completely. No one heard a peep from or about him or his wife until the fire a few years later.”
”It's too much of a coincidence for it not to be Mackenzie's family,” he mused absently. ”The question becomes, I guess, who actually died in the fire, if anyone? Or, if it was staged, why?”
Alec shrugged one shoulder. ”Can't help you there. I don't remember much about the guy. We b.u.mped into him at a bar and played pool for a half hour or so. I was so impressed by the fact that I was seeing a real, live cougar that I hardly paid attention to a d.a.m.n thing he said.”
Jackson shook his head. ”It's probably not important.” He threw the file on his desk and walked to the coffee maker, starting a fresh pot with distracted, automatic movements. ”The guy gave her his name, probably his real one. I'm going to see what I can run down about it today. I might also call Mahalia and ask if she can put me in contact with her friend, Steven, or another cougar. Kenzie's bound to have questions that you and Nick can't answer.”
He realized his mistake when both of Alec's eyebrows flew up. ”Kenzie's going to have questions, is she?” he said dryly. ”Guess the Italian food worked.”
Jackson cleared his throat and focused on the coffee maker. Insisting nothing had happened would only amuse Alec further, so he shrugged and ignored his own slip of the tongue. ”Wouldn't you have questions?”
”I've got one. If she's Jessica Evans, that'd make her twenty-five. The odds of her hitting twenty-five without s.h.i.+fting are probably about a few thousand to one. The only time I've ever heard of it is in cases where someone's taken steps to prevent it. But that's some d.a.m.n powerful magic.”
Jackson turned and nodded. ”I asked her last night, but she doesn't have a clue. I figured I could add it to the list of things to check with Mahalia about when I call her this morning.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the floor as the aroma of coffee filled the office. ”I've got that feeling, Alec. The one I get sometimes right before things go to h.e.l.l.”
His partner studied him. ”If Mahalia doesn't know about the s.h.i.+fting thing, you should ask Nick to call her sister. Mich.e.l.le can cast a spell that keeps a wolf from s.h.i.+fting. Their father uses it during trials to keep things civilized.”
The disgusted emphasis Alec placed on the last word spoke volumes about how he felt about the way John Wesley Peyton ran the board. ”I'll keep that in mind, but I'm not sure if that's what we're looking at here. I mean, Jesus, that kind of spell? Duration like this would be all but impossible for anyone but the most powerful of casters.”
”You shouldn't underestimate Mich.e.l.le. There's a reason people like her end up executed by their packs more often than not. The Seers are too d.a.m.n powerful, and that much power makes them unstable. I like Nick and all, but her sister scares the s.h.i.+t out of me sometimes.”
”Just be glad she lives in New York and we've got the uncomplicated twin.”
”Yeah.” Alec snorted, poured himself a mug of coffee and leaned against the counter. ”We're all having fun teasing you about the girl, but this situation could be serious. Are you going to be able to concentrate if the s.h.i.+t hits the fan?”
”I can get it done.” He grimaced at his partner. ”Dammit, Alec. For your information, nothing happened.”
”I'd be a lot less worried if something had. If it were just s.e.x, you could get it out of your system.”
Jackson blew out an exasperated breath. ”I don't make a habit of seducing women who're on the run from supernatural stalkers. That's a little complicated for my tastes.” He grabbed the phone on his desk. ”You've got a dirty mind.”
”Never said I didn't. So you gonna fix the wards on Mahalia's old place?”
”No real reason to.” Jackson avoided meeting Alec's eyes as he dialed Mahalia's number. ”It'd probably be safer for her to stay with me for the time being. Since the guy's goons already tracked her to the bar, I mean.”
”Mmm. I'm sure that'll do wonders for your concentration.”
”I said I could get it done.”
”Uh-huh.” Alec watched him. ”If you don't have anything else for me right now, I'm going to go annoy Nick by lurking around and keeping an eye on them.”
Jackson waved a hand at him as the line started ringing. ”Go. If I need you, I'll call.”
It had been over a month since Mackenzie had gotten the chance to do something as wonderfully lazy as lounge on a couch and watch television. Of course, only half of her attention was on the television. For someone on the run from an evil gang of supernatural stalkers, she had spent an absurd amount of the morning daydreaming about the illicit things she wanted to do to Jackson.
It wasn't a productive use of her time. And I don't care.
She heard Nick before she saw her, the soft sound of footsteps on the stairs reaching her ears over the quiet hum of the television. Mackenzie reached for the remote control and cut off the music video channel as Nick appeared in the doorway. ”Hey, Nick. Sorry we woke you so early.”
”Eh, it's okay.” Her tousled hair fell around her shoulders, and she covered a yawn as she dropped to the couch and arranged her worn terrycloth robe over her legs. ”Alec told me Jackson would probably drop you off here before work. Good thing, too. We've got some major shopping to do before the afternoon rush.”
Mackenzie blinked at her, hoping she didn't look as confused as she felt. ”Shopping...for the bar?”
Nick grinned and stretched. ”Nah. Girl shopping. It's the best way to dish gossip, and I'm willing to bet you've got some after last night.”
She wasn't the type of woman who usually blushed, but the teasing look in Nick's eyes made her cheeks heat. ”Jackson told me that Alec...told you what happened yesterday,” she said as a way of changing the subject. ”How much did he tell you?”
”What, about what happened outside the bar?” Nick made a face. ”Just that some whack job is after you, and sent a caster and a big, strapping s.h.i.+fter to fetch you.” She rolled her large brown eyes. ”Then he said Jackson took you back to his place and seduced you. But I told Alec that Jackson making Italian food doesn't mean he tried to climb in your pants.” She paused, taking in Mackenzie's blush. ”Or did he?”
”No.” d.a.m.n it. ”But he did tell me that you-that you're a-” It was impossible to get the words out, even if Nick had mentioned ”s.h.i.+fters” and ”casters” as if they were a completely natural thing to talk about.
”Shapes.h.i.+fter?” Nick supplied, nodding. ”Mm-hmm.”
It sounded insane. ”I'm not sure what to think about all of this, honestly. I thought Jackson was insane, but he made himself invisible and that means he's telling the truth or I'm insane...”
Nick giggled and clapped her hands together. ”b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He's a show-off, I don't care what he says.” She gave Mackenzie a rea.s.suring smile. ”Neither of you is insane. It must seem crazy, and honestly? I can't even sympathize. I was born into this life. I can't imagine what it must be like to just find out one day.” She propped her arm on the back of the sofa and rested her head on her hand. ”Do you have any questions about stuff? I can try to answer them.”
There were so many Mackenzie hardly knew where to start. She hesitated, gathering her courage, and plowed forward. ”Can I see-I mean, can you-” She waved her hand vaguely.
Nick raised an eyebrow. ”You sure you want to?”
”No, I'm not. But it might make me stop questioning my sanity.” Or push me over the edge into outright lunacy.
The other woman looked as though she was completely aware of the second possibility. ”Maybe we should wait awhile. I mean, if you can take things on faith for a bit. Maybe long enough to have brunch and hit the mall over on Ca.n.a.l Place?”
Mackenzie wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved, so she turned her attention to the second problem. ”I can't afford to go shopping. I didn't have much in the way of savings to begin with, but I've gone through most of it in the last month.”
Nick didn't look concerned as she crawled off the couch. ”I have lots of money.” She headed for the stairs with a look back over her shoulder. ”Consider it compensation for keeping me company...and dis.h.i.+ng the gossip, of course.”
Mackenzie quickly found that her tiny boss's enthusiasm for shopping was unmatched. Ca.n.a.l Place had been a bit of a disaster, since one look at the pricey designer boutiques had practically made Mackenzie's eyes pop out of her head, but Nick had recovered admirably and suggested they head for Magazine Street instead. The shops there turned out to be far more eclectic and far less highbrow, which went a long way toward putting Mackenzie more at ease.
They were sitting on a bench in the early afternoon sunlight, enjoying ice cream cones, when Nick turned to her with a quizzical look. ”So, what else did Jackson tell you about me?”
She didn't want to admit she'd been talking about Nick's crush on Derek. ”He said your father is some...big important leader.”
Nick lowered her voice. ”He's the head of the Northeast Council, and he presides over the other council leaders. He's a big shot.” She kicked her feet and looked around. ”He's good at all that political stuff, though. Me? Not so much. Which is why I am perfectly content to run my bar and stay out of all that society c.r.a.p.”
Mackenzie nodded. ”Jackson said that his partner and Derek were like you. Is Kat a-a s.h.i.+fter too?”
”No, Kat is psychic. An empath,” she clarified. ”That's why she freaked out when she saw you at the bar yesterday. She was feeling what you've been feeling.”
”Oh.” That brought the color back to her cheeks as she imagined the things the girl would have picked up about Jackson. ”Oh, my. I imagine that can be...uncomfortable.”