“Well, I’ve never met her. Mason’s baseball league was not something I was very interested in, to be honest.” Her words were laced with guilt. She obviously regretted not being the dutiful, supportive wife. “I never went to any of them. I hardly ever go to Calvin’s little league games either… Mason takes him most of the time. I’m just not a big baseball fan,” she explained.
Yes, she didn’t seem like the sporty type. “Do you know her name?” I asked.
She bit her bottom lip. “Nope.”
“Don’t worry about that, Mrs. Henderson,” Simone broke in. “The detectives can easily look into it, and figure it out.”
Jenna looked relieved. “Oh… good.”
“I’ll talk to the detectives,” Simone went on. “Do you know where your husband keeps his extracurricular activities information; registration forms, and the like?”
Jenna shook her head. “No clue.”
“Again, no worries. We’ll contact the city. It’s probably a city run league.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “Yes, I think it is.”
“In the meantime. Would you mind doing another session with Mr. Rogers again?” Simone asked. “It might stir up something about her.”
Mr. Rogers? Who the hell was with Mr. Rogers? Oh yes… Ace.
Jenna looked up at Ace and shrugged. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” She, like everyone else on the planet, had fallen for Ace’s charms.
Ace and Simone followed her into her husband’s office. Leo and I were left alone, on the ultra-modern sectional. He actually got up, and went to sit in the arm chair, like he couldn’t bear to share the same piece of furniture with me.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He wouldn’t even look at me.
“I’m sorry. I don’t even like him.”
He scowled. “Didn’t seem that way to me. You were all over him. I’d love to see how you act around guys you actually like.” He still wasn’t looking at me.
“I swear, I don’t.” I struggled to explain, but it was so hard. It was hard to describe. “I like you,” I said. “Not him.”
31
He turned to me. “Then why did you kiss him, Anna. Why did you partner up with him? Why were you wearing matching costumes?”
“Well, the costumes were Kendra’s idea,” I started. “I didn’t have one, and turns out Ace has a car, and he offered to drive us to the Halloween store, and then Kendra just decided…I didn’t even want to dress up as Dorothy. That smutty costume was totally not me.”
He smiled. “I agree.”
“But Ace kinda made me… it’s hard to explain.”
“I bet he made you kiss him, too.”
“He did. He totally did.”
“Well, didn’t seem like he was holding you down.”
“It wasn’t like that, Leo. You know Ace. Everyone knows he’s a Spellbinder. He’s famous around here. The guy just looks at you, and he can make you do anything. He put me in a trance.” I realized just how crazy I sounded, but this was Freak Academy, after all. Fire play, mind reading, magic healing potions. We were crazy. We were freaks.
“He’s never pulled that shit on me. Why was it so easy with you?” he asked.
That was an excellent question. “I looked into his eyes,” was all I managed to say, but I knew there was more to it. Deep inside, I was drawn to Ace, I was attracted to him. Despite the fact that I didn’t really like him, and that I was crazy about Leo, Ace still pulled me in for some reason.
“Well, he does have nice eyes,” Leo said sarcastically.
