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I called Natalie’s office as I walked to ured she’d probably be in by the time I was able to drive there, so I headed for her office first I drove with the radio blasting, focusing fully on the notes pounding in hts of Valerio Costa trickled in, forcing Bon Jovi’s lyrics right out of my head His crazy black salamander eyes--eyes that should have been creepy, but were somehow intensely sexy The conviction in his voice when he insisted I was a good investigator And the way his arainst hi at the car behindfor Valerio Costa I was not The man had used me as bait

Even worse, he hadn’t told me that was part of the plan

Why had he slept with me? Because he wanted to keepforbecause of the stress of Elaine’s kidnapping

But what if I wasn’t?

A great weight settled onto s, the hope fro I could to keep Valerio Costa out ofwas as pristine as always The lass, and that bit of brightness ihts, and ran into what felt like a brick wall Cool hands on aze of a fa scent of herbs swirled around e man as the one I’d seen in the lobby when I’d visited Natalie alone about the burned body case He dropped his hands and stared aton his forehead

I stepped aside, unco? A suit adorned his body, but he carried hi, and I wondered if that here the herbal scent had come from Perhaps he was a customer of Natalie’s?

Or a supplier?

I felt his eyes onme, she nodded and reached for the phone The witch, it seemed, wasn’t one for surprises I didn’t look back, but headed for the elevator Encouraging thepatiently for the elevator to ding, I checked my cell phone Still no call froet me to listen No screw- yous The fact that he hadn’t even tried to call so, of course Yet if he really cared, wouldn’t he have followed me out of the hotel?

But no No chase No call No worries--for hirumbled and stuffed the phone back in my jacket as I boarded the elevator I turned back and hit the button for Natalie’s floor The largedoor still spun fro to worry about

I knew should call Costa and give hi to Natalie That would be theto do His partner was a bitch, but that didn’t mean that he was as bad as her wordsthat what he’d confided in ht before wasn’t a story he told carelessly, if he’d even shared it before But as the light behind the numbers counted off the floors in the elevator, I couldn’t force myself to take out my phone to make the call

Natalie’s office door stood ajar, but her office itself was e appeared disturbed, no rustled papers or knocked-over chairs Perhaps she just hadn’t arrived for the day?

Her day planner sat on her desk, so I gave the office and waiting room a quick once-over and then flipped it open Today, she showed appointht tonight For Natalie, appoint room, which was situated down a hallway from her office I’d seen it once, e cast the locator spell to find Elaine A spell we’d cast in vain

I whistled underweek appeared just as full When did she have time for a life? Or even to eat?

It was nine now, and her calendar listed an appointht until ten So where were they? Her note was in shorthand, but it looked like some sort of luck spell had been scheduled A private client, then The police depart to the hallway between her office and spell roo back there to see if she was busy casting I griic was tricky I was no expert, but I was pretty certain that no one would be happy if I interrupted her spell Who knehat the consequences could be? For all I knew, barging in there ly at her co her mouse revealed the screen to be locked and that a passas needed Just as well How bad would it look if she walked in to find me on her computer? No ould she believe that I was just on there to Google soh and pulled out my phone The screen was small and the speed wasn’t up to what a real computer could do, but it would have to work

I loaded the tiny browser and tapped ernails on her desk while I waited for the search screen to load When the box finally popped up, I typed in "Anchorage, Witch"