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“No,” Shaw said, “I summoned them psychically.”
Then he squealed when North pulled his hair.
Jem, for some reason, was grinning, so Tean answered, “Why are you looking for her?”
“Because someone hired us to follow her.”
“And because I had a premonition—” Shaw began, but he cut off, trying to defend himself as North reached for his hair again.
“What do you mean someone hired you?” Jem asked. “Watch her do what? Why?”
North and Shaw traded a glance. When Shaw gave a tiny nod, North said, “The board of trustees for that animal safari place she runs? The one down by Cape Girardeau? They think she’s embezzling.”
“And grifting,” Shaw announced proudly.
“And all sorts of other financial shit.”
“Including bribes for development deals.” Shaw was rubbing the patch of hair North had pulled. “You know she’s building another park, right?”
“That’s good,” Jem said to Tean. “That means it could have been somebody else.”
Before Tean could respond, Emery broke away from his whispered conversation with John and threw the group a look. “Of course it was someone else. As I told you, Jonas couldn’t kick a tire down a hill; he certainly couldn’t find a murderer.” He seemed to consider this and added, “Not someone who actually committed the murder, anyway. I imagine he’d be quite effective at locking up innocent people.”
“Oh my gosh,” Tean whispered.
“That’s maybe not the most helpful thing to say right now,” Jem said, and for the first time in a long while, Tean heard an edge in his voice.
“Why not?” Emery said. “It’s the truth.”
“Ok,” John said and rubbed his forehead. “Take it down a notch.”
“And there were those other guys,” the younger man said, sitting forward in his chair. “We saw them leaving her room after you kicked their asses.”
“Auggie,” the man with the longish hair said.
Auggie ignored him. “I got them on camera.”
“You did?” Jem asked.
“Well, yeah. I was recording everything because I couldn’t get, um, Dr. Leon to hold still for an official picture—”
“Hmm?” Jem murmured to Tean.
Tean shot him a dirty look. “I was busy.”
For some reason that made Auggie smirk, and his expression only got wider when Jem said, “I’ll find some time in his schedule. Tell me when you want the photo, and I’ll personally make sure he’s ready and available.”
Auggie held up his phone. “But it could have been those guys, right?”
“Auggie,” the other man—presumably, his partner—said again. This time, there was no mistaking the warning tone.
“Stop interrupting him, Theo,” Emery said. “His hobby is proving useful for once.”
“Oh my God,” John said under his breath.
“I’m not sure,” North said. “About those guys. I think they were there for something else.”
“Or someone else,” Shaw said. For some reason that made color rush into Jem’s face, and Tean made a mental note to ask why. Jem looked like he might be about to say something, only before he could, Shaw continued, “I’m a natural-born witch—well, North is a natural-born witch too, but he can only divine if handbags are genuine or not. Oh wait, actually, now we’re both wizards. Well, North is more of a wizard and I’m more of a mage—”
