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“That was Mattie,” he said, sounding stunned. “She wanted to get together and catch up.”
“Aha! I knew she was up to something,” I said.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “I can’t imagine any other reason she’d want to get together. If she changed her mind about me because of my success, I’d have thought she’d have contacted me more than a year ago, before all that stuff about my parents came out. If she was being a supportive friend, she’d have reached out last year.”
“Well, what did you say?” I asked.
“I said we could have lunch tomorrow.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rod asked.
“We were talking about using me as bait earlier.”
I sat up straighter. “Okay, we need to plan for this. Rod, you’re our illusion expert. Can you disguise yourself to be at that place to keep an eye on her? I’m worried about bringing most of the security people in on this, but I may see about getting our formerly homeless guys on the case. They can lurk outside. They don’t know about that family or any of the magical world politics, so we can trust them. She met me—not that I think she paid any attention at all to me—but maybe I can send Trish in. It would be good to have an immune in there. And I’ll check in with Carmen to see if she’s had any news releases.”
“What do you think she’ll do?” Owen asked, sounding amused.
“I’m worried she’s setting you up to be the patsy for the latest magical demonstration. Which is why you’re not going to be able to make it to that lunch.”
We didn’t have a lot of time to put our plans in motion. I backed down from the idea of bringing our new recruits in on the operation, mostly because I didn’t want to put them in the position of hiding things from Sam. But Trish eagerly agreed to go to lunch at the selected restaurant, and Rod didn’t have to be persuaded to disguise himself and keep an eye on Matilda.
My part of the plan was a little more challenging. I had to come up with a good reason to contact Carmen and ask her if she’d heard anything more about magic events. The tricky thing was that I’d downplayed all her suspicions. Why would I ask her for updates on something I’d showed no signs of believing in?
The solution came when someone handed me a flier just before I entered the subway station on the way to work the morning of Owen’s lunch. I glanced at it and saw that it was a notice about a “Public Event that Will Change the Way You See the World” scheduled for that evening at City Hall Plaza. That sounded like an excuse to call Carmen.
I’d already programmed the station number into my cell phone, and once I got to my office, I called it, hoping she’d be at work. She was. “Hi, this is Kathleen. From the meeting and the concert,” I said, hoping she’d remember me.
“Yeah. Hi. What’s up?” she said, sounding wary.
“I’m sure it’s going to be something silly, but I just got a flier for some public event at City Hall Plaza this evening and was wondering if you’ve had any news releases tipping you off about anything lately.”
“Nope. Do you know what the event’s about?”
“Just something that’s supposed to change the way you see the world.” But the proximity to MSI headquarters was a little worrisome. “I guess they stopped sending you news releases, huh? Nothing else going on today?”
“Not that they told me about. Are you planning to go to the thing tonight?”
“I may check it out, just out of curiosity. It’s near where I work.”
“Maybe I’ll see you there.”
“Maybe.”
I ended the call, feeling some relief about Owen. If Matilda was behind all this stuff, and if she was going to frame him, she’d have invited the reporter to be present, I was sure. Maybe she really did just want to catch up with an old classmate. Maybe her family losing its money and prestige made her more sympathetic with Owen’s situation. Maybe she was trying to recruit him to the dark side.
About an hour before Owen’s meeting with Matilda, I went out to walk the perimeter around the restaurant area and make sure nothing had been hidden magically. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or even more worried when I didn’t come across anything untoward. No magical creatures skulked around outside the restaurant. I didn’t see any people I recognized from the anti-magic meeting or any other events. I was probably the most suspicious-looking thing around, as I lurked s
o that I could watch the doorway and maybe get a glimpse through the windows. I saw Matilda arrive, her perfect blond hair swishing back and forth behind her shoulders as she walked. She was a bit early, but Rod and Trish were already in place.
Now to see what she’d do. This was about the time that Owen was supposed to call and apologize about something coming up.
Therefore I almost blew my own cover when Owen approached the restaurant and I barely stopped myself from shouting, “What do you think you’re doing? That wasn’t the plan!” Okay, so there were no reporters present, and I didn’t see anyone who looked like they might be ready to cause trouble, but that was no excuse not to follow the plan. And he accused me of being reckless!
I just had to hope that Rod and Trish would be able to manage whatever happened inside. I couldn’t see either of them from my position, but I did see Owen take the seat across from Matilda. It was sheer agony waiting through the lunch. I felt like the poor little match girl, watching through the windows while they lingered over a fancy lunch as I ate my sad sandwich alone outside. I knew that whatever his reason for not sticking with the plan, it was only for work, but I still didn’t like it. I was no longer at all jealous, but I was angry about him being used. And I was sure she was using him. The only question was how and why.
I felt like at least two hours must have passed before they emerged from the restaurant, him gallantly holding the door for her. She did that double air kiss thing that struck me as awfully pretentious before they went their separate ways. I was torn between following her and confronting him, but he approached me after she got into a cab, which settled the issue.
“What were you thinking?” I demanded. “The plan was that you weren’t going to show up.”
