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I nearly gasped out loud. I hadn’t noticed that in my viewing of the footage. Matilda was nearby, so was she under our shield, under her own, or causing it all? But no, someone between us and her began dancing, so she had to have been outside our shield. Still, it did cast some doubt on my theory.
“Hmm, you’re implying that there are mundanes you’ve discussed magic with?”
“They’re my roommates,” I explained. “Phelan Idris kidnapped one of them a couple of years ago. That was what revealed magic to them. We merely explained what happened. They’ve been very involved in the magical community since then.” I didn’t know if there was some procedure to follow about reporting that Nita knew now, or if anyone had done whatever procedure that was, so I kept it vague. Theoretically, what I’d said applied to all my roommates, even if Nita had only learned at the festival.
“Hmmm,” Jones said, making a note on his document. “I will have to look into that. Most irregular. Did you get clearance to tell them?”
“As Katie said, they already knew,” Owen said. “All we did was explain what they saw. And it was so blatant that there was no other way to explain it.”
“I will make a note to follow up, but that’s not what we’re here for today.” Jones literally made a note before continuing. “Now, it seems that you, Mr. Palmer, left soon after the dancing began.”
“I got a phone call, and I needed to get away from the music to hear it.”
“A phone call from whom?”
“My foster father, James Eaton.”
“Hmmm. Would you care to show me your call log? I can get your records, but it would be much easier if you cooperated now.”
I felt so sick I was sure I’d turned green. Owen had faked that call, which now was going to look really bad. But Owen didn’t seem to be too bothered as he took his phone out of his pocket and handed it over. Jones glanced at it, said, “Hmmm,” and handed it back before making a note. “Though it seems you left just before that call came in.”
“Are you sure of the time stamp on that security camera?” Rod asked. “It’s hard to imagine it’s kept perfectly in sync with the time on the cellular system. You’re lucky it even registers the correct day.”
“Hmmm, good point.”
“You don’t really think Owen did that spell, do you?” I blurted, unable to hold my silence any longer. “Public displays aren’t his style, especially not dancing. I can’t even talk him into taking dancing lessons so we can do a fancy first dance at our wedding.”
“She has a point,” Owen said, some color coming back into his face as he blushed. “I’m not much for dancing.”
“Hmm, but you weren’t the one dancing.”
“If he doesn’t know how to dance, I doubt he would know the kind of choreography needed to create this kind of spell,” I argued.
Owen blushed even more. “Well, actually, I had to go through a cotillion program when I was a kid, so I theoretically know the steps. I just haven’t done it in years, and I don’t really like doing it.”
Unfortunately, he was too far away for me to be able to kick him in the ankle to make him shut up. I somehow doubted that Jabez Jones was the type to consider that someone that scrupulously honest wasn’t likely to be the culprit. He’d just see the admission as more evidence of possible guilt.
Merlin, who’d remained silent all this time, finally spoke up. “Are you making any specific allegations, Jabez?”
“Merely investigating,” Jones said, sounding entirely unfazed by having one of the most powerful wizards ever irked at him. “But there aren’t a lot of suspects, and Mr. Palmer does look very suspicious.”
I was tempted to mention my theory, but remembered that doing so would probably ruin everything. It was too soon. Only when I had evidence would I dare bring it up in public. It just would have been nice to be able to throw in another name to take some of the heat off Owen.
Jones waved at the TV screen again. “Let’s see what else happens, shall we?”
I tensed, afraid of what was sure to come up next. This video was from an angle I hadn’t seen, and I wondered if he had sources I didn’t. On the screen, I left the group, moving through the dancers, and Nita followed. It was pretty obvious where our shield ended because she started dancing, and I grabbed her and hauled her back. “Your friend seems to have noticed that something is amiss,” he said.
“Yes, because someone was doing unauthorized public magic,” Rod said.
“Which appeared to have some sort of forgetfulness woven into the spell, but Miss Chandler took action to prevent that from working on her friend.”
“Whoa, are you saying it’s my fault that a spell I had no control over, done by someone else, made my friend notice that there was something weird going on?” I asked, leaning forward so intently that Jones moved back just a tiny bit. That gave me a slight burst of satisfaction. “I was getting her to safety. How was I to know that meant she wouldn’t forget dancing when the spell ended?”
“Hmmm. You told her about magic?”
“The paperwork was filed this morning,” Rod said. “We explained an event she saw and experienced. Whoever did all this is responsible for her knowledge.”
“Hmmm. Surely there was some other way you could have handled it. And I understand Miss Chandler spoke to a television reporter, as well.”
