Chapter 5

 

“May I help you?” The woman sitting at the gatekeeper desk glared at Parris and Ty. Her words might have been welcoming but her tone told a different story. Parris knew their presence was one more unwelcome interruption in a busy day filled with disgruntled tax payers.

Parris waited for Ty to speak then noticed he scanned the room, distracted. Men. “We need to see Ray Stone.”

The woman looked over her half glasses, strands of her long gray hair falling loose from a wild bun held haphazardly by a clip on the back of her head. Her glance appraised the two visitors for a mere few seconds. Her gaze dropped down to a calendar open in front of her. “I don’t see anyone scheduled on his calendar. Unless you have an appointment, Mr. Stone is busy. You should have called first.”

Feeling unwelcome and dismissed, Parris tried again. “I’m only in town a couple days. I need to help my grandmother solve this issue. I have to speak with Mr. Stone.”

“Miss…” the woman drawled out, questioning the term, “you can’t walk in here demanding to see Mr. Stone. I’ve told you, he’s a busy man.”

Frustrated, tears started to fill Parris’ eyes. She took a step forward leaning over the desk. “Now you listen to me, you paper-pushing bureaucrat. Your precious Mr. Stone is trying to steal my grandmother’s house. He will darn well speak to me before he does.”

Parris felt herself being moved back away from the desk. Ty’s hands felt warm and calming. “You have to excuse my wife. She’s emotional on the subject of her grandmother. The woman raised her.”

“Oh, I understand.” The woman changed from pit bull to kitten with three sentences from Ty. Parris glared at him. Why did everyone listen to him? She’d been nice at the beginning, too. She’d only turned to bitch mode after she’d been completely rebuffed and lectured by a desk troll. Ty’s hand pressed against her back, a gentle warning to keep quiet. “Is there any way Mr. Stone can see us, only a few minutes?” Ty batted his eyelashes at the woman. “We would be grateful.”

The woman blushed, glancing down at the schedule again. “Well, he does have a free half hour before his three PM staff meeting. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you snuck into the last office on the right. I must have been on my break when you got off the elevator.”

“We didn’t see anyone at the desk.” Ty winked at the woman. He glanced down at the gold name plate. “Thanks, Harriett. You’re the best.”

Parris waited while Harriet scurried away toward the elevator bank before she whispered to Ty. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.”

Ty kept his head straight, not looking at her, casting his perfect smile at the women sitting at desks lining the room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t stop. Pretend like we should be here. No one will even question us.”

Parris jerked her head toward him. “You know why I’m mad. You made me look like a raging lunatic while you played white knight come to save everyone.”

“Sometimes you use what you have to work with.” Ty stopped in front of the last door. He took a big whiff of air before touching the doorway.

Parris sniffed. Fresh wall paint filled her senses. Glancing over at Ty, she watched him slowly open the door. He acted like he expected something to explode.

She peeked around the door, seeing an old wooden desk with two maroon wing chairs. A chestnut brown leather chair was turned away from them toward the wall. She heard a male voice call as they entered the room.

“Ty Wallace. How the heck are you?” The chair spun around, revealing a heavy set man, dressed in a fuchsia, flowered Hawaiian shirt. His bald head shined with sweat. Gold chains hung around his neck. Parris was certain if the man fell overboard, he’d sink right to the bottom of the ocean.

Ty walked directly to the desk. “Raymond, I didn’t know you retired. When did you get here?”

Parris frowned. Retirement? Maybe ex-military? Being in the same business would explain how the men knew each other. Hopefully, this was a good thing.

The man at the desk didn’t stand. He held his hand out flat, palm down, expecting homage rather than a handshake greeting. Ty slipped his hand under the man’s palm turning it slightly, giving a quick shake.

Raymond Stone’s eyes flared. The look disappeared quickly making Parris not quite sure she’d seen anything.

“You always were good in the normal world.” The words sounded like an insult, cloying and sweet.

Parris crossed ex-military off her list. This guy would have never survived boot camp, not twenty years of the regimented lifestyle. Yet, he knew Ty from another life. The explanation seemed to be slightly off in Parris’ mind, she pushed away the nagging discourse.

“I’ve been practicing longer.” Ty responded. His gaze didn’t leave Raymond’s face, as he waved Parris to sit in one of the wing back chairs. She sat on the edge, not wanting to sink back into the chair which seemed quite comfortable.

An ease flowed over her immediately. The oddest memory of being home in grandma’s library, reading a romance novel, curled up before the fire, swarmed over her thoughts. The smell of baking ginger-snaps filled her nose. She fought to stay in the present.

“Charms?” Ty snapped his fingers. Parris found herself focused on the man sitting behind the desk. Ty laid his hand on her knee. His warmth steadied her, making her calm, not catatonic like she’d been a minute ago.

“Can’t blame a man for trying.”

Parris touched Ty’s hand, and he turned his gaze to her. “What the heck is going on here?”

“Just breathe.” He squeezed her leg giving her a quick smile before pulling the letter from his jacket pocket. He slid the paper across the desk. “We’re here to clear up this problem.”

Parris noticed that Raymond seemed to watch them intently. He pointed together his index fingers pressing them against his lips. He leaned back in his chair, not even looking at the piece of paper. “Interesting.”

“Don’t even start with me.” Ty growled. He tapped the paper. “Focus.”

Raymond Stone took one more pointed look at Ty before he leaned forward in his chair. Picking up a pencil, he moved the page closer.

“This is a letter from our office. Apparently someone has been very naughty.” Raymond looked at Parris. “Is it you, darling girl? Have you been naughty, not paying Caesar what is due him?”

Parris shook her head. “My grandmother, I’m afraid. She’s stubborn. I’m willing to make up the old taxes. I called, trying to get this settled. The woman who answered the phone said I was too late.”

Ty growled under his breath. “You brought an attorney, let me do my job.”

Parris frowned at him. She’d answered the man’s question. Did he want her to sit her like a lump and let Ty fight the battle like some simpering female? Ty was right so she clamped her lips shut, even though she wanted to scream she wasn’t a child. Ty had a way of pushing buttons she didn’t even know she had.

He searched her face with a glance and after she gave him a tight smile, she saw a glint of humor in his eyes. Parris felt positive he’d known she wanted to say so much more.

“You two done playing footsie?” Raymond asked, clearly amused at the short exchange.

His tone made Parris wary. There was something else going on here. Something even the feeling emulating from the soft, inviting chair couldn’t hide.

“I’m conferring with my client, Raymond.” Ty responded evenly.

“And I’m clearly a fat bureaucrat who likes to throw around his weight.” Raymond tapped a pencil on the letter sitting in the middle of the desk. “Give me a break, Wallace. We both know you wouldn’t be here on a water dispute.”

“I am a human lawyer.” Ty said slowly. “I handle disputes. That’s my job.”

Parris frowned at his words. Did he combine two sentences unconsciously? Considering Ty’s words, an intense desire to sleep came over Parris. She wanted nothing more than to lean back, closing her eyes for a second. This argument made her head hurt.

* * * *

As Ty watched Parris close her eyes, giving in to the chair’s spell, he shook his head. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to talk to you alone. Your girlfriend seemed too interested in our conversation. Where did you find her, anyway?” Raymond’s question seemed casual. Ty knew nothing interested Raymond Stone besides his own career advancement in The Council. Ty chose his words carefully. Not a lie, just not an info dump.

“She’s an acquaintance of my secretary who needed a lawyer since your office stonewalled her on this problem. Why didn’t you let her pay her grandmother’s taxes?” Ty leaned back watching Raymond’s reaction. He felt the wards on his chair trying to get past his guards. He waved his hand, stopping the niggling feeling.

Raymond cursed. “Damn it, Ty, do you know how long it took to set those spells? You come in and wipe the chair clean.”

“Sorry.” Ty didn’t mean the apology and Raymond knew it. Formalities. “So the taxes? She can pay them and we’ll be done?”

Raymond leaned back tapping his pencil on the desk. Finally he sat up, clearly having made a decision. “When I found the file, it was mislabeled, misfiled, with a large payment posted out of an undisclosed, untraceable source on the record.”

“Sounds like you have some administrative issues with your department.”

A rather rat-like smile crossed Raymond’s lips. “Sounds like some tampering going on with the record.” He tapped the letter again. “The item aroused my curiosity. It took some doing but I finally got my hands on the physical file.”

“Again, why are you telling me this?”

Raymond tapped his desk again.

“You can’t think there’s anything except human error in this case. Her grandmother’s a flake, old and forgetful.” Ty watched a pigeon tapping at seed on the window sill.

“Buddy, if this was human error, you wouldn’t be here. Whoever warded this property hid the record in plain sight. My staff never saw the file. Everyone was digging through an old stack of boxes in the back office. Telling me the file must have been shredded. When I went to look myself, the file sat right where it should have been, yet no one saw it.” Raymond glanced nervously at the window. “My secretary keeps feeding the damn things. The birds give me the creeps.”

Raymond was right to be wary. If Ty wasn’t mistaken, the same pigeon had been bringing him messages from The Council the last five years. Answering his unspoken question, the pigeon nodded his head to Ty in recognition. The Master must not have shared his secret mode of communication with the rest of The Council.

“Birds, aside. Your staff is incompetent. Have you thought of that?” Ty faced Raymond. No need to feed his paranoia. Even if the old saying was true in this case–if it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck, it’s probably a duck. The Council set a watcher on Raymond Stone.

“Believe me, staffing incompetence was my first thought. Then I found the actual file.” He leaned to the left opening a drawer. Using a napkin, he threw the folder on the desk. “Touch that then tell me your little old lady is harmless.”

Ty smelled the mixture of herbs emanating from the normal manila file folder. Yew, cypress, hemlock, a faint touch of myrrh, covered the other herbs mixed with the normal paper and ink to form a protection spell. Matilda must have spelled every letter she sent in return to the bills, knowing eventually the spell would cause the file to become invisible to the human eye. Matilda hadn’t counted on a retired warlock wanting to spend his golden years as an overpaid department chief. He glanced at Raymond. Obviously denying Matilda’s meddling would be fruitless. Raymond wanted to know the story behind the file. Ty would have to give him part of the answer. He hoped his deception would be enough to get the man off Matilda’s scent.

He would have to explain The Council’s reach to the woman if she wanted to continue to live outside the notice of the magical world. She’d been lucky. However, it would take a minor miracle to put her back under the radar now. Bringing Parris here was another mistake. How would he have known the Department of Water and Lands was run by a witch? Ty felt caught in a web. A version of the truth was his only weapon to cut his way out.

He bent forward, putting his forearms on his knees. “You’re right. The woman who owns the property is a witch.”

“I knew it.” Raymond slammed his hand on the desk.

“A level five. Tested and certified by The Council.” Ty let the statement sink in before he continued. “A level five who over the year’s perfected one spell to save her home.”

“You’ve seen her papers?” Raymond seemed disappointed.

“This morning, after I met her. She recognized my role as hunter right away.” Ty tapped his fingers together, absently. “She’d hidden in plain sight for years. No one from our world even stopped or did a check-in for thirty years.”

“How did you find her?”

Ty smiled at the still sleeping Parris. “The girl came to me. I find her fascinating. Even though she’s human, she appears worthy of a few rounds in the sack. Frankly, I jumped at the chance to play Prince Charming. I’ll call in the favor later.”

Raymond leered over at Parris. “She is fine. Are you sure she’s human?”

“She has less talent than her grandmother.” Ty shook his head sadly. “That’s what happens when you breed indiscriminately. The power wans.”

“Such a shame, she’d be beautiful in circle.” Raymond glanced back at Ty. “Kind of like your Rowena.”

Ty scowled. He hated the thought of Raymond thinking about Parris or Rowena. But the witch had seen the resemblance, too. The two women didn’t look at all alike, but something in their aura mirrored each other. The attraction that had drawn Ty to Rowena in the first place was here in Parris too, only stronger. The potential she held was exhausting to even try to explore. “The girl is nothing like Rowena. Pretty, yes. I will have her. No one will replace Rowena.” Ty glanced at Parris dismissively. “She’s a play thing to be discarded after I grow weary of her charms.”

“You always were a son of a bitch.” Raymond chucked. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Chickie can pay her grandmother’s back taxes. Or are you going to pay them for her?”

“My office will send you a check. Who I bill and how I bill is none of your business.” Ty stood buttoning his suit jacket. “So we’re done here?”

“Done. All you have to do is wake your sleeping beauty.” Raymond leaned back in his chair watching Ty pull Parris to her feet. “One more thing.”

Ty froze, not looking at the man. “Yes.”

“Tell your level five she messed with the wrong person. This time, she got lucky.” Raymond pushed the file into his desk drawer with the pencil.

“I think she realizes that.” Ty put his arm around Parris who wasn’t quite awake yet to get her out of the office.

When the door to Raymond’s office closed, Parris’ eyes opened. “Tell me more about my grandmother being a level five witch.”