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“When did Greenfield—via Pénombre Manufacturing—purchase that warehouse?”
“Not long after he’d arrived in Australia, apparently.”
I frowned. “Why buy it, then not use it? That makes no sense.”
“But he was using it,” Azriel commented. “He might not have had his dark altar there, but he was doing magic in the caverns under that place.”
That was certainly true. And, given that, maybe it was also true of other buildings. “Did Greenfield or Pénombre purchase any other buildings?”
Stane smiled. “Pénombre didn’t, but Greenfield certainly did.” He flicked another image over to my screen. It was a list of about half a dozen locations. “He actually bought more than these, but they’ve either been sold to legitimate people, or the buildings were razed, apartments built on the land, and then sold.”
“Legitimate meaning you’ve checked them out?” I said.
He nodded. “I’m still in the process with a couple of them, but I can’t immediately see or find a link back to any of our sorceress’s known identities.”
“And Michael Greenfield? Is he still in existence?”
“According to the tax department, yes, though it took some time to track him down, as he hasn’t actually filed a return for a few years now.”
“Define a few?”
“Eleven years.” He grinned. “He’s racking up some big fines to the tax man, I can tell you.”
They could only fine him if they could find him, and I somehow doubted they ever would. Mike had obviously ditched that persona. I waved a hand at the list of six. “And these?”
“Have all been sold, but most of them have, at one point or another, been in Lauren’s hands.”
“So definitely a connection.” I studied them for a moment, then frowned. “That place out at Altona North—who’s that registered to now?”
He glanced at his screen for a second, then said, “A Mrs. Margaret Kendrick.”
“A name I’ve seen before,” I said, voice resigned. “Mike had her folder on his desk one time when I visited him. He told me he was just updating her records.”
“He keeps paper records?”
I frowned. “Yeah, and I’ve already told you that.”
“Did you? Sorry.” He grinned. “Maybe the shock of someone doing it the old-fashioned way just erased it from my memory.”
I snorted softly. “I’m gathering the Altona North place is still a working warehouse?”
He nodded. “Kendrick is an importer, and interestingly, many of the companies she uses are the same ones Lucian and Judd used in their import business.”
“So we have a likely connection.” I glanced at Azriel. “And one possibly worth checking out.”
He nodded. “Although it would depend on whether or not we have a worka
ble list of possible key sites. Hunter’s deadline approaches far too fast, and we need to concentrate on our main quest rather than be sidetracked by a rogue sorceress.”
“That rogue sorceress has already beaten us twice . . .” I stopped and swore. If it was Myer rather than Markel who was currently on watch duty, then I’d just made a very major goof. I mentally crossed my fingers and added silently, I’d rather make sure she can’t get to the final key before we do.
With Lucian gone, she has no direct line to your activities.
That we know of. I’d still rather ensure she isn’t around when we find the next one.
“Weeding down that list of possible locations,” Stane said, obviously not noticing the fact I’d cut my sentence off midstream, “is an exasperating experience. The list is now just over fifty possible sites—which may not mean much to someone who can transport instantly, but it’s still going to take time to inspect each one, and some of them have pretty fierce security systems installed.”
“I can get us past security,” Azriel said.
