“Is it?” Angie squeaked, bringing a hand to her chest like she wanted to check that her heart was still beating beneath it.
“We have to wipe her memory,” Parker rasped, then pulled his arm off my shoulders and raised both hands high and grunted.
Angie took a step back.“Look, guys. I don’t know what this is, but it’s not very funny.”
“It didn’t work,” Parker moaned as his knees buckled from the exertion. “I’ve got nothing left in the tank.”
“We’ll find Mr. Fluffikins, and he’ll take care of everything,” I decided aloud as I helped him back to his feet.
Angie pulled the driver’s side door open. “Well, I should be going. Don’t worry about that payment. Okay, byeeee!”
I saw a chance then, so I took it. I let Parker go, hoping he could keep himself upright, then bolted for the passenger side door and threw myself inside.“Nonsense, we’ll have your payment soon. Just bear with us a little longer.”
Parker staggered toward the car like some kind of ripe and rosy zombie, and I left the door open so Angie would be less inclined to drive away without him.
She sighed heavily and pressed her forehead against the top of the steering wheel.“I deal with murderers, embezzlers, and other types of crooks all the time, but I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as scared as I am now. Please just let me go home and pretend I never heard or saw what just happened out there. I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”
“Please help us,” I begged, knowing full well just how much I was asking of her. “You have a cat, too. Wouldn’t you do anything to get him back?”
She lifted her head and regarded me warily. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes, and I felt deeply sorry for involving her in this. After all, I’d been in the exact same position only a few days back. We needed her, though. Parker and I wouldn’t be able to make it a block without her assistance, and I couldn’t abandon him when he’d come all this way to find me.
“I promise we’ll keep you safe,” I said, desperate for her to believe me. “Everything will be okay, and you’ll get a big fat paycheck at the end of the day for your troubles.”
She sighed, and just when I thought she’d tell me to get the heck out of her car and pretend I’d never met her, she smiled, wrapped both hands around the steering wheel, and turned to me. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
27
Once Parker had clambered his way into the back seat, we began driving through the various neighborhoods and side streets of Caraway Island once more. As much as I hated being so far away from home, at least we were dealing with a confined search area here on this little island.
While Angie drove, I handed Parker the list I made from the hotel to help get him caught up on what we knew, which admittedly wasn’t much.
“I can add a few things,” he said after studying it for a moment. “Without magic or much physical energy, I know I’m mostly a liability for this mission, but my brain still works decently enough. For starters, I have no idea who this Val and Blackjack duo is, but they’re right about Scavobeing back.”
I shook my head in disbelief as the suburban scenery slowly rolled past.“But Mr. Fluffikins said he died a couple years ago,” I reminded him.
“His body died, yes, but Scavo dealt deep and dark enough in magic that he’d already managed to arrange for his return before he…” Parker raised his hands to make half-hearted air quotes. “…died peacefully in his sleep.”
Angie toed the break and we lurched to a stop.“S-s-sorry,” she sputtered. “Go on.”
“So he’s back but looks different?” I asked to bring us back on topic.
“That’s the working theory. We believe he’s adopted a new name but held onto some of his old contacts.”
Hmm.Like Angie, I was also creeped out by this new revelation as to what magic could accomplish.
“Why didn’t he just become a vampire?” I questioned, recalling what Tawny had told me.
“For one thing, he himself was not a magick, and no Diplomat in their right mind would lend him that kind of power. Seems you and Connie had a nice chat during your makeover montage, huh?” Parker laughed weakly. Was he getting worse the longer he stayed away from his town? Gosh, I hoped not.
I had to keep him talking, just in case this magical withdrawal worked kind of like a concussion. I couldn’t risk him falling asleep on me and possibly never awakening again. “Okay, so Scavo’s back and possibly involved in all this. But how come you know about his return and Fluffikins doesn’t?”
When he didn’t answer right away, I turned and found him leaning back with his eyes closed. “Parker!” I shouted and nudged his knee.
His eyes blinked open and he tried to sit taller on the car’s rear bench seat. “Right. Fluffikins doesn’t know because it’s a recent development. We found out right before I stepped out of the role of Liaison to the Force and into the role of Town Witch.”
I turned back to face front and found Parker’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “But shouldn’t Fluffikins have known? As your boss?” I prompted. This Scavo definitely felt like a good lead, but none of us knew what he looked like these days, and I also had no way of getting in touch with Val or Blackjack to request further assistance.
“I did submit a report, but I doubt he’s gotten to it yet. There’s always so much paperwork to sift through. Bureaucracy at work.” Parker’s smile was barely discernible, but at least it was still there. “I didn’t know he was working out of Blueberry Bay instead of Boston now, but it makes sense.”
“What else can you tell me?” The new information was beginning to click into place, but still nothing resolved this mystery. With Parker ill and Angie frightened, we were now in far worse shape than we’d started.
“Parker?” I prompted when he didn’t answer immediately.
“I’m thinking,” he said. “Making sure I get things right.”
“Okay,” I said, then waited several moments while he composed his thoughts. The whole time I watched him through the rearview mirror to make sure he didn’t nod off again.
When Parker spoke again, his words slurred together.“Five field agents were abducted before this latest batch, one of which was Percy as you’ve noted. The others were called Cricket, Harry, Darjeeling, and Bill.”
Angie surprised us both by speaking up next.“Did any of them have tortoise shell coats?” she wanted to know.
“Yes,” Parker answered at once. “Percy did. Why?”
Angie slowed the car to a stop and turned to face Parker in the back.“We met a corgi earlier who told me about a bunch of strangers walking by today. I assume you’re the man he mentioned, but in addition to you, he also saw a tortoise shell cat. Like the one we just passed.”
“You can talk to animals?” Parker asked, raising an eyebrow with great effort.
“With all your free talk of magical crime rings and conspiracies, my secret doesn’t seem quite so weird anymore,” she said slowly as if it had to be pulled out of her.
“He’s coming this way,” I said, spying the little tortoise shell cat approaching our car. “Get down, Parker.”
Parker fell to the side, seeming relieved to not have to keep himself upright anymore.
I waited for the cat to advance several paces past the car, studiously avoiding his gaze so as not to draw suspicion.
“Now look,” I whispered to Parker. “Is that Percy?”
Parker struggled to pull himself up, but eventually did by grabbing onto the back of my seat and using whatever strength was left in his arms to aid in the motion.“Yup, sure is,” he said after a quick glance out the window.
Bingo! Now we had a real clue to go on.
“Follow that cat!” I told Angie, excitement bubbling up inside me. We weren’t too late to fix this, and if my suspicions were right, then Percy would lead us straight to our missing persons… um, cats and person.
28
Percy led us to a brick colonial with a foreclosure sign in the front yard. How he didn’t notice us trailing him, I have no clue. Maybe he was too focused on the road ahead to worry about looking back.