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“It was treachery!” Thor shouted, shaking his fist and then pounding it on the table. The fact that he was sitting in a child’s booster seat made the gesture less intimidating than I was sure he intended. “The Elf Lord betrayed the gnomes, taking the great work without payment.”
“That would be like him,” Earl put in. “He’s beyond cheap.”
Ignoring him, Thor went on. “Our people could not stand for this. Gnomes tracked elven movements, watching for signs of the lost brooch. Seers searched the heavens.” He launched into an in-depth description of the search. It was as though he’d memorized this story and couldn’t deviate from it in any way, even if we didn’t care about these details.
Out of boredom, I picked up the newspaper that had been left on an adjacent table and skimmed the headlines of the Life and Style section. There was a review of a new television series beginning that night that sounded interesting, although I doubted I’d be home in time to watch it. I turned the page and saw the society coverage. The photo accompanying the column about a fundraiser being held that night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art stopped me cold. Every single muscle in my body tensed.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” I muttered in sheer horror.
“Katie, what is it?” Owen asked.
“I think I’ve found our future Mrs. Martin. And we’re doomed.” They all turned to stare at me, and I had to gulp a few times before I could choke out the words, “It’s Mimi.”
Chapter Seven
The others stared at me, confused. Except for Thor, who scowled. “Now you’ve made me lose my place,” he grumbled. “Let’s see, where was I …” His voice returned to the formal, singsong rhythms of his storytelling. “The brooch landed on foreign shores, and new seekers joined the quest.”
“What’s a Mimi?” Earl interrupted.
“Hey, you can talk when it’s your turn,” Thor protested, then he groaned. “And now I’ve lost my place again.”
I turned the newspaper so they could see the column. “Mimi Perkins is my ex-boss, before I joined MSI. And she’s evil. I’ve met some truly bad people in my time, and none of them were scarier than Mimi.”
Thor opened his mouth to continue his story, but before he could begin speaking again, Rod asked, “What does this have to do with the brooch?”
“According to the newspaper, Mimi is putting on a gala tonight, and the article mentions that she’s engaged to billionaire Jonathan Martin. We’ve got our missing fiancée. Does nobody read the newspaper anymore? MSI research should have found this in five minutes.” Of all mornings, this had to be the one when I’d gone to work before at least skimming the headlines. I’d have seen Mimi’s photo and drawn devil horns on it, so I surely would have made this connection long before now.
“I thought she was engaged to someone named Werner,” Owen said.
“Yeah, a year ago,” I said. “She’s obviously upgraded to someone older and richer.”
“This looks promising,” Rod agreed. “But what makes you so sure she’s the one who has the brooch?”
“Because … because …” I trailed off. I knew what I feared, but was that the same thing as having good reason to suspect? “Because it’s the best lead we’ve got,” I finally said. “And, believe me, if it is Mimi, we’re in huge trouble.” They looked skeptical, so I added, “I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating, but the way you describe what the Eye does to people? That’s her normally. She likes power and she’s kind of passive-aggressive about it. She likes people being afraid of her while she pretends to be nice. She’ll act like your best friend, but you never know when she’ll snap and get ugly on you. Now, give her extra sway over people, more power lust, and invulnerability, and we’ve got problems.”
Under the table, Owen gave my knee a gentle squeeze. I wasn’t sure if he meant it to be reassuring or to tell me to chill. He said, “It is the best lead we’ve got, and from my one meeting with the woman, I have to say that we should at least rule her out.” He turned to me and asked, “Where would we find her?”
“We know where she’ll be tonight,” Rod said, pointing at the newspaper.
I shook my head. “That’ll be too late. She’ll have started World War Three by then.”
“She had the brooch in the box when she left the restaurant, so its effects are shielded,” Owen reminded me. “Maybe she won’t put it on until she gets dressed for the event—and if we’re lucky, she doesn’t know what she has.”
“The sooner we get to it, the better,” I said. I took a few deep breaths and forced myself to think clearly. Working for Mimi was the reason I’d been willing to respond to a very suspicious-sounding job offer in my e-mail, which led me to a magical company. I had to be desperate to even consider talking to someone about an unspecified job at an unnamed company, but they’d contacted me on a day when Mimi was at her worst, and I couldn’t resist any opportunity to escape.
But she had no power over me anymore. She wasn’t my boss, and her magic doodad wouldn’t affect someone immune to magic. Not to mention, we were on a more equal footing now. My current job was on the same level as the job she’d held when I worked for her. She may have been engaged to a billionaire, but I was dating a millionaire who was much younger and way hotter.
And if I was right about her having the brooch, then it was my mission to defeat her. This had just become the best day ever.
Owen asked, “Where do you think we’d find her before the gala?”
“It doesn’t sound like she has a day job anymore,” I said. “I bet everyone back at my old company is thrilled about that.” I frowned. “And I wonder why they didn’t let me know. I’d have thought they’d invite me to the ‘Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead’ party.”
“You were out of town for the first part of the year,” Owen reminded me.
“Oh yeah. It’s funny how long ago that seems. Well, if she’s not at work, maybe she’s at home. Do you think the office could get her home address? I doubt any info I have would be current.”
“I’ll call,” Rod said, getting up from the table as he reached for his phone.
