SeductiveTracks (5 page)

The reply on the other end of the line was a grunt, and Matt
felt a frisson of annoyance at the wizard.

“Mr. Monard, did you actually recover these items?” he asked
point-blank.

“Yeah, I Retrieved them,” he replied, sounding as if he were
only partially involved in their conversation. “I’m a Retriever, it’s what I
do. Find shit that gets lost or stolen, you know?”

Matt cast a quick glance at Julian beside him. His partner
made a face and a rude gesture toward the phone. Matt had the impression that
Julian believed Vincent was not feeling helpful and was full of shit. Matt agreed.
The wizard came across as arrogant and as though he thought himself above Matt.
It would be foolhardy, however, to write him off because he grated on Matt’s
nerves.

“I am sure you are very good at your job, Mr. Monard,” Matt
replied a little sarcastically, “but I was wondering if you could give me a bit
more detail on how, exactly, you came to Retrieve those items?”

“Look, buddy,” Monard snapped, his tone condescending, “I’m
not going to rehash old stories for you, even if you are an Enforcer. That’s old
news and I’m juggling a dozen or so cases right now. I’m busy. If you really
want to go over the files, the company makes it a practice always to cooperate
with you guys, so come on over and explore my records to your heart’s content.
If not, I have
real
work to do here and I can’t sit around telling tales
to you. Okay?”

Matt looked again at Julian, who nodded. The Retriever was
an idiot and they weren’t likely to do more than irritate him if they pressed
the point.

“Of course, I understand,” Matt replied. “And I will be sure
to make a notation in my records of how obliging you have been. Thank you for
your time, Mr. Monard.”

Vincent hung up even as he spoke his farewell, so it was
mostly cut off. Matt hung up the portable phone and tilted his head. “An arrogant
jerk, newly minted from the Academy and out to prove what a wonderful manly man
and kick-ass Retriever he is,” he summarized. “I’d love to bust him for
something, but I’m not sure I can see him having the brains to carry anything
off with someone as patient and intelligent as Shadow appears to be.”

“Definitely worth checking out this Retrieval consultancy,”
Julian added, “and we can try to corner and speak to Olivia Congreave at the
same time.”

“It’s certainly a lot harder to brush us off in person,”
Matt replied, “and I wouldn’t mind getting a bit of a look at Monard either.
See if the real-life version is as irritating as his over-the-phone manner. Or
see if maybe he was playing us.”

“We’ll take my car?” Julian suggested.

Matt thought about it for a moment then nodded. “Sure.”

They tidied up the files and their notes, then Julian locked
the files in a safe until they could return them to Captain Will. A few minutes
later they were leaving the apartment to head down into the garage and drive
out to the Retrievers’ office.

Poulter, Williams and Brown, Inc. was based on the fourth
floor of a mid-downtown building in the business district of Chicago. One of
the longest running Retriever outfits in the United States, the office had the
hushed, busy but discreet air of a well-established—and expensive—law firm.

Matthias smiled at the perky blonde receptionist. She had a
large white-toothed smile that she could probably thank her dentist for and a
colored business shirt with only the top two buttons undone. Despite her
concession to propriety, she seemed more than willing to take in a long eyeful
of both Julian and himself, and Matthias decided to let her while he made a
mental first impression of what he could see of the office.

The receptionist’s desk had been positioned to block direct
entrance into the main office area, but he could practically smell the old
money stamped on the furniture and in the atmosphere of the place. With a small
smile, Matt gave himself one moment more to cast another quick glance around
and take in what he could see of the Retrievers’ office.

Dark wood paneling and a carpet at least two inches thick
gave the rooms an air of elegance and no expense spared. While the usual sounds
of keys clacking and people speaking softly gave it the air of being in use,
that didn’t disguise that faintly empty feeling of an area where the real
business occurred elsewhere.

All in all, Matt was not surprised by anything he saw. None
of his internal alarms went off to indicate that something remained hidden
under the surface. This appeared to be all an old-school, well-established
Retrieval outfit should be. The office seemed designed to remind the wizarding
clientele that this was a well-respected group of traditional people who only
hired the best of the best.

Clients could come here, divulge their problems and go home
without ever having to see or come close to the grittier, harder facts of life.
The real world outside wouldn’t leave mess on their hands or smudges upon the
window of their day.

“Good morning, I’m Ida Riedars,” the blonde introduced
herself as Matt and Julian went up to the receptionist’s desk. “Welcome to
Poulter, Williams and Brown, Inc. How may I be of service today?”

Ida spoke with the quick-worded, smooth confidence of a
woman who had said those exact same words at least a thousand times and fully
expected to say them at least a thousand times more. Matt shot Ida his most
charming grin and pulled his Enforcer badge from the inner pocket of his
jacket.

Opening the leather wallet to show Ida the badge then
replacing it in his inner pocket again, Matt spoke.

“Hi there, Ida. I’m Matthias Kestell and this is Julian
Sherwyn.” Matt grinned again as Ida’s eyes widened at the sight of his badge,
and continued to speak before she could worry too much. “We’re just here to ask
a couple of very routine questions about something that’s come up in a search
we’re doing. We’ve already spoken to Vincent Monard on the phone, but he seemed
extremely busy. My partner here and I thought maybe it would be easier if we
could have a brief chat with Mr. Monard in person.”

A knowing light appeared in Ida’s savvy gaze. “Of course Mr.
Kestell,” she replied. “Mr. Monard is frequently…very busy and struggles to
give much time to anything other than what currently holds his attention.”

Matt grinned at the subtle and diplomatic wording the
receptionist used. Not for the first time he thanked the vagaries of Fate that
allowed receptionists to manage not only their own work but half the rest of
the office’s as well and still keep their fingers on the pulse of everything
that occurred around them. He had often found receptionists to be absolute
gems, not to mention veritable mines of information.

“Do you think he’d be able to squeeze in some time to speak
with us?” Matt cajoled gently.

Ida grinned, clearly more than willing to help him out. “I
feel positive Mr. Monard can spare a few of his very hectic minutes,” she
assured him. Standing up, she pointed the way across the room and toward a
corridor. “Mr. Monard’s office is down that corridor, fifth room on your right.
His name will be on the door if he’s got it closed but you can’t miss him as
the inner walls from waist-height up are glass. Mr. Monard is the black-haired
man in the olive-green suit. I believe he’s wearing a gray tie today.”

“Thank you, Ida, you’ve been invaluable,” Matt said as he
and Julian took a step in the direction she had indicated. As if he had just
thought of something else, Matt paused after the first step. “Oh, by the way, I
believe a Miss Olivia Congreave also works here?”

Ida’s eager-to-please manner closed in on itself. Matt noted
with interest that while she had been prepared to do everything except hand out
Vincent’s phone number, her entire demeanor became more wary when Olivia was
mentioned.

“Yes, we have a Retriever working here by that name,” Ida
replied, obviously more guarded and protective.

Matt relaxed his face to appear as gentle as he possibly
could. “Her name came up on a few of the reports from Mr. Monard,” Matt
explained. “We thought maybe after we’d seen Mr. Monard, it might be easier for
us to just swing by and have a brief talk with Miss Congreave.”

“Oh,” Ida replied. “I believe Liv is in today, but she’d be
more than happy to speak on the phone with you. She always has time to help
anyone. I can’t imagine her giving you the run-around, unlike Mr. Monard.”

Matt nodded, understanding what Ida was saying between her
words. Vincent appeared to be a thorough jerk and not so popular among his
co-workers. Olivia, on the other hand, seemed well-liked by the receptionist
and presumably by her peers as well. Ida might have been happy to do everything
in her power to aid the Enforcers when it came to Vincent, but clearly she
would not lift a finger she didn’t have to when it came to aiding an
investigation concerning Liv. Matt found that telling.

“I’m sure she would have been pleased to speak with us,”
Matt reassured Ida, “but we were already here and it just crossed my mind that
while we were visiting it might save us time in case we had any questions
later.”

Ida nodded, seemingly only partially convinced and much less
eager now to help them out. Despite her visible misgivings, she nodded again
toward the same corridor.

“Liv’s office is the third on your left,” she added, clearly
not willing to divulge more than necessary.

“Thank you, Ida,” Matt replied as he and Julian passed her
desk. “You really have been a wonderful help.”

As they crossed the main open-plan office area, Matt could
feel Ida’s gaze on his back. Once they were properly out of earshot, Julian
closed the distance between them and murmured, “Our Ida seemed more than
willing to bury Vincent, but became quite protective and defensive when it came
to Olivia. They’re obviously friends.”

“Absolutely,” Matt agreed, “and we aren’t the only people
Vincent seems to rub the wrong way. Says a lot, doesn’t it?”

Almost as soon as they entered the corridor they could
clearly hear a loud voice talking above the rest of the more usual office
sounds.

“And then I just knew I had been right, regardless of what
Old Lindleston said. Always trust your instinct, that’s what I say. I’m one of
the best damn Retrievers in this whole city and I don’t care if Lindleston has
been at it for nearly half a century, he’s getting old and past it. Me, and the
new breed of Retrievers who hunt just like me, are the way of the future, no
matter how much other wizards want to stick their heads in the sand over it.”

Halfway down the hall, Matt and Julian paused. As Ida had
told them, the individual offices had glass paneling. This allowed anyone who
walked by to see inside the offices. Even though the receptionist had indicated
that Vincent’s office was the fifth on the right, at the third they could see
far enough down the hall to spot their target.

A tall, well-muscled man who appeared to be in his
mid-twenties with a shoulder-length ponytail of slicked-back black hair.
Dressed in a snappy olive-green suit, he waved his hands around and
gesticulated as he spoke. The grating, arrogant sound of his voice spoke volumes
about his personality, as did the conceited content of his words.

“This joker would turn in his own mother if he thought it
would enhance his career and standing,” Julian said softly to Matt. “No way
would he keep a friend like Shadow under wraps if he knew about it.”

Matt had to agree with his partner’s assessment. Turning, he
looked into the office on the left-hand side, the one Ida had indicated was
Olivia Congreave’s. He saw a curvy, red-headed woman who appeared to be in her
early thirties. She stood by the window and looked down, seeming entranced by
the scene below. Her red, wavy hair reached just below her shoulders, offset by
the dark-forest-green jacket she wore and a pencil-slim black skirt.

Reaching out with his magical senses, Matt detected her
signature and knew this woman was not Shadow. Long years of habit had him
memorizing the uniqueness of her essence, but much of his initial interest
waned as he placed her in the “possibly helpful” basket. She was not the
intriguing, complex, challenging puzzle Shadow conjured for him. Matt drew up
short as he thought this, stunned by the fact that his interest and curiosity
about Shadow had grown so deeply. He was hunting her down as if she were prey.

Riveting, beguiling, seductive prey.

Embarrassed by this private self-revelation, Matt turned to
speak to Julian and break the unusual silence, only to find his partner staring
at the red-headed witch. Julian looked at her with such an intensity it was as
if he feared she were a mirage and would disappear without a moment’s notice.
Never having seen his friend look at or react to anyone like that, Matt felt
equal parts amused and intrigued. Nudging him, Matt grinned and jerked his head
toward the witch’s office.

“Do you think you can handle us going in there and asking
her questions, buddy?” he teased Julian. “Or do you want to wait out here?”

Matt felt his amusement deepen as Julian’s pale skin
flushed. “I think I can handle coherent words,” he replied fairly tartly.
“Unlike you, I happen to have a brain and a distinguished vocabulary. Maybe it
would be best if
I
asked her a few questions and you sat back and
watched how it’s done.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose in amusement and he waved a hand,
indicating that Julian should precede him into Olivia’s office.

“By all means,” Matt teased, “go for it, man. Show me what
I’m lacking and teach me a lesson in how to thrill the ladies.”

Julian knocked on the frame of the open door before entering
a few steps. Matt kept a discreet pace behind him, more than willing to let his
partner and friend try to bedazzle the witch. At the knock, the redhead turned
from the window, her eyes wide with surprise. She clearly hadn’t expected to be
interrupted.

“Excuse me, but are you Miss Congreave?” Julian asked in a
soft, gentle tone.

“I’m Olivia Congreave, yes,” she replied. She appeared to
try to hide her surprise, but Matt could still see the curiosity lighting her
eyes. “May I help you? I’m afraid I wasn’t aware I had an appointment just
now…”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, we didn’t have an appointment. I’m
Julian Sherwyn and this is Matthias Kestell. We’re following up on a few leads
we’ve discovered in conjunction with some cases the Enforcers have in their
cold files. We have just a couple of simple questions, if you don’t mind giving
us a couple of minutes of your time?”

Matt watched as an invisible barrier appeared to come down
over Olivia’s expressive face. Her smile dimmed and the curious,
eager-to-please light in her eyes became far more cautious. Nothing overt had
changed, and her tone of voice remained cheery, if a little forced now. Matt
had to hold himself still as he’d nearly taken an instinctive step forward, his
inner radar singing merrily at him that they had indeed struck pay-dirt with
this witch.

Many people had reason to be wary and cautious around the
Enforcers. Even the most innocent of people, when confronted with a law
enforcement officer of any description, immediately thought of all the minor
transgressions they had performed in recent history.

Matt’s considerable intuition told him this was not
something small, like shouting at a neighbor or playing her music too loudly
after eleven the previous weekend. Olivia Congreave felt she had some secret it
was imperative to hide, and had subtly but visibly cooled down and shut her thoughts
away when Julian had mentioned that they were Enforcers following up on a few
questions.

Curious now, Matt let himself hope for the first time today
that maybe this would be far simpler than he had believed at first.

Olivia recovered herself. “Of course.” Matt couldn’t even be
certain Julian had noticed the change, so fast had it occurred.

“Please, both of you sit down and call me Olivia. I’m always
happy to help the Enforcers however I can,” she insisted. Despite her light,
carefree words and tone, Matt still had the private feeling that her help would
be only however much she was forced to impart to avoid appearing over-cautious
or as if she had something to hide. Indeed, as he watched her, she seemed to
shake herself mentally and brighten, as if she had just given herself a silent
pep talk.

Julian, to all appearances, was entranced by the red-haired
witch. Matt had been with Julian on the roof of a building as it had exploded
and they’d both been hurled to the ground in a blast of glass and brick. The
man had barely blinked an eye as their lives had almost ended and their quarry
escaped. This curvy witch seemed to have more effect on his partner than the
bomb blast they had survived.

Matt could not believe Julian was on top of his game. Matt
wondered if Julian had picked up on half the things he’d noticed about this
witch in the last minute alone. He’d never known his partner to be so
distracted. Matt hoped it would not prove problematic as they continued with
this case.