Page 68 of Blood Magic

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Brenda Ferguson was indeed waiting in the hallway. She stood between two hulking human guards, her brow knit.

“Joe,” I said, not slowing.

“I’ve got her.”

I didn’t look back to see him grab her arm and yank her away from the unresisting guards, but I knew he did. She began asking questions immediately. “Where am I? I don’t know why I’m here. What has happened?” She started crying. “I’ve lost my mind.”

“Not your mind,” Joe growled. “Just your memory.”

“But what happened?”

“Some bad people took you from your home,” I said. A tall woman stepped away from the wall at the end of the hallway and waited to show us out. “Your husband hired me to bring you back.”

“I don’t remember anything.”

“Probably for the best,” Joe told her.

“But what do I tell the police?”

“Nothing.”

Joe handed her into the back seat and buckled her seatbelt, then climbed in beside me. “Kait. We’ll find them.”

“How, Joe?”

“When Jennifer was awestruck and distracted by the torture, I got some pictures.” He flashed his cell phone. “All I need to do is give this to Max. He can find anything.”

“Of the detective?” I wished my voice hadn’t sounded so soft and full of tears.

“Yes. Of them all.” He reached across to squeeze my hand. “Max will find them.”

I could have cried. “Joe. Thanks.”

I drove like a maniac all the way back to my office, my mind buzzing so loudly I could barely hear Brenda’s incessant questions. Joe tried to soothe her as best he could, but it was beyond me.

Max and Zach were waiting when I rushed into my office, and both of them knew immediately that something bad had happened. Zach more than Max, perhaps.

“Oh my God,” Max said. “What?”

“Call Ferguson to come pick up his wife.” I strode past him and toward my office. “Then come see me.”

Zach didn’t wait for an invitation. He followed me into my office as Max picked up the phone and Joe dealt with Brenda Ferguson.

He shut the door and leaned against it, and I finally noticed he was dressed in new clothes. Dark green pullover shirt, brown button-up, black jacket, jeans, and boots. “I’ll pay you back for everything I bought today.”

I waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

“What happened?”

I opened my laptop, more because I didn’t want him to see my eyes than because I needed on my computer. “Axton’s bitch gave me a private viewing of a horror flick.”

He nodded, then sat down in the chair in front of my desk. “Who’d he kill?”

I swallowed, trying to get the vision of sun-killed vampires out of my head. “Bastien and Farrow.”

He put his fingers to his mouth, then crossed his arms. “Fuck,” he whispered. “How?”