Motor City Witch (3 page)

Elise shook her head. “Dina goes to a witch-owned daycare near the gallery,” she said. “Sylvia Jones—she’s not a
Wyndewin
, but she can handle kids with power. If I have an evening event, sometimes she keeps Dina overnight, but Sylvia never comes here.”

Jase left the room, returning a few minutes later with a tray of mugs and a full pot of strong, black coffee, along with fresh tea for Elise. As everyone helped themselves, the doorbell rang and Wallis admitted Greg Novak.

George’s older brother was still in the tux he’d worn as Ric’s best man at the wedding, though his tie and half his shirt studs were missing and, if Aidan wasn’t mistaken, one collar point was smeared with raspberry-colored lipstick.

“It seems to me,” Greg said after gulping down half a cup of coffee, “that the first question is why. Obviously it isn’t about money. Though Elise has thousands of dollars’ worth of art in her gallery, kidnapping isn’t the easiest way to get it. If they could pop in here, they could have just as easily popped into a bank vault. So what we should be thinking about is who you might have pissed off lately, gorgeous.”

“Well,
leannan?
” Aidan searched her face for any hint of suspicion, but she shook her head.

“I haven’t turned down anybody at the gallery and I haven’t been involved in
Wyndewin
business since before Dina was born. I have no idea…unless…” She turned accusing eyes on Aidan. Her nostrils flared and her lips thinned. “This is about you, isn’t it? Someone saw her today, thought she was yours and came after her to get at you. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

Aidan had to admit it had crossed his mind as well. The timing was too much of a coincidence otherwise—and he didn’t believe in those. Sick though the idea made him, she was probably right. “Shit, not another traitor in my household.” He turned to Greg. “Where is Fianna? Weren’t you supposed to be watching her?”

Fianna of the Meadow was a young Fae who had been Aidan’s private secretary until they’d discovered her involvement in the plot to overthrow the queen. As a punishment, she’d been stripped of all her powers and left in the human realm. Aidan had agreed to find her a menial job and keep her under surveillance. He’d turned that task over to the werewolves, who’d hired her as a waitress at their club.

“She’s with Lana.” Greg poured another mug of coffee. “I checked in on her there as I was leaving the club.” Lana was a cousin of the Novak brothers and another wolf shifter. “They’ve been together all night, first at the New Moon. Later they watched some chick flick up in Lana’s apartment.” Fianna had been set up in one of the apartments in the old hotel
building above the club. Since Lana and Greg both lived in the building, they were able to keep a close eye on their charge. “Fianna was never out of sight of either me or Lana all night.”

“Has she been in contact with any Fae?” There was something odd about Greg’s phrasing, but Aidan wasn’t going to worry about that now. He didn’t think his former secretary was stupid enough to be involved in this, but he had to ask. She’d seen Ric run a sword through her uncle—surely she’d gotten the idea that she’d been on the wrong side of the elven supremacy movement.

Greg shook his head. “No. She doesn’t leave the building alone and we haven’t had any elves come into the bar except Ric once or twice.”

“Downtown Detroit is too full of iron and salt for most Fae to feel comfortable.” Aidan had felt that near-painful tingle himself whenever he had business downtown. As the central part of the city consisted largely of decaying steel-framed buildings and warehouses built over abandoned salt mines, what few Fae passed through the metropolitan region tended to hang out in the suburbs. “That’s one reason we agreed to Fianna being there. Even stripped of her powers, it can’t be pleasant for her.”

“She seems to be adjusting.” Greg stared down at his coffee. There was something about the werewolf’s expression—he wasn’t growing fond of Fianna, was he? That would make things awkward. “Once she wrapped her brain around the idea she was going to have to actually get her hands dirty for the first time in her spoiled little life, she started to settle in okay. I honestly can’t see how she could have had anything to do with this. She wasn’t even at the wedding. I don’t think she’s ever met Elise and I doubt she has a clue that Dina exists, let alone that she’s yours.” He looked up at Aidan as he spoke.

“She isn’t his,” Elise insisted.

Aidan ignored her outburst along with Greg’s skeptical snort. “I’m going upstairs,” he said. “Elise? Will you show me Dina’s bedroom?” While Wallis was better than Aidan at reading magic trails, Aidan simply needed to see the girl’s space for himself. Something deep inside his chest insisted she belonged to him.

“Go ahead,” she grumbled. “Everyone else has.” She crossed her legs beneath her and lifted her tea. “I—I just don’t want to go up there right now.” She twitched nervously though, obviously anxious to be doing
something.

“Okay.” Aidan stood. Greg and Wallis both moved to come with him, but he shook his head. This was something he’d rather do alone.

He didn’t have much idea of what a four-year-old girl’s bedroom was supposed to look like, but if he’d had to guess, he supposed this would have been it. White and gold furniture filled the space, dominated by a canopy bed hung with gauzy curtains in glittery candy pink. A matching comforter lay in a heap beside the bed. The carpet was apple green and the wallpaper wainscoting had wavy stripes of both shades. Shelves were filled—or had been—with books and toys. Now most of the contents were dumped on the floor. One bed curtain was torn and the framed print of a fantasy castle hung crooked above the headboard. The pink sheets dangled to the floor.

Thank the gods there was no sign of blood, but it looked like Dina had put up quite a fight for a four-year-old. That shouldn’t make him proud, but it did.

A sparkly silver hairbrush lay on the floor beside the desk, a few long, dark strands still clinging to the bristles. Perfect. With no qualms at all, Aidan ’ported in an envelope, stuck the hairs inside and stuffed the envelope into the back pocket of his jeans before carefully
replacing the brush on the desk. Later, once this was over, he’d arrange the damned DNA test. There was a framed picture there of Dina and her mother, and Aidan couldn’t help himself. He picked it up and compared the two faces, searching Dina’s for any trace of him. Were her ears slightly pointed? Was the line of her chin a bit more elven than human? Impossible to tell.

It didn’t matter anyway. She was still a young child who’d been forcibly taken from her home by enemies unknown. The only important thing right now was getting her back. If she’d been taken because of Aidan, he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself, but he’d make damn sure somebody paid. Preferably in blood. He wasn’t so far removed from his pirate days as most people liked to think.

Forcing back the knot in his throat and the uncharacteristic itching of his eyeballs, he concentrated on the magic trails that Wallis had mentioned. Yes, there was definitely elven sorcery present, along with something foreign. There was a familiarity, though, to the more exotic magic, one he kept turning over and over in his mind. As head of Underhill, he dealt with people from all over the world and all varieties of non-humans as well, as long as they were willing to do business with the sidhe.

Business. Halfway down the stairway, the thought occurred to him. He’d had meetings for the last month with a particular group of investors. He looked at Wallis as he re-entered the crowded living room and said, “Djinn.”

“Fuck, how could I have missed that?” Wallis smacked himself in the forehead, right below his shock of carroty hair. “Of course.”

“Djinn?” Elise looked at Aidan as if he was on drugs. “What would a genie want with my daughter?”

“Djinn are businessmen.” Aidan resumed his seat beside her on the couch. “Most of them, at any rate. And like any group of corporate raiders, some are honest and others are not. Every race has its mercenaries, love.”

“So a djinni and an elf working together,” Greg said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find. There aren’t too many Fae willing to mingle with other races. Still doesn’t explain how they beat the alarm system.”

“Actually, it might.” Aidan tapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa. “Something I learned in the negotiations last month is that djinn don’t need portals to move between the mortal realm and Underhill—which they call the ‘Otherworld.’ They can cross the dimensional veil anytime and anyplace. So if one got to the Otherworld equivalent of Dina’s bedroom, then, yeah, they might be able to come through directly.”

“Walk up outside the condo in this realm, pick a window and calculate the distance.” Wallis moved his hands as he calculated the possibilities. “Cross over, move that distance in and up…with a ladder, maybe, or some kind of spell, then step through again. Yeah, I can see that working.”

“Were there any djinn at the wedding today?” George asked. “I didn’t spot anyone who looked Middle Eastern.”

“Not that I knew about.” Aidan tried to visualize the crowd and pick out individual faces in his mind. “It’s possible someone came in with the caterers, or the band.” How many people had been there, guests and workers included? Two hundred? Three?

“No, I can vouch for the band.” Greg shook his head. “They play at the club a lot—nobody came in with them that I haven’t seen a hundred times before.”

“I’ve used the caterer for events before, but I didn’t vet each of their staff.” Aidan tried to think of each face he’d seen throughout the day. “Wallis, did you screen them as they came in?”

“Of course.” Wallis sniffed at the implication he’d ignored his responsibilities. “Every one of them had ID and was on the list we’d been given last week.”

“How about the co-op teachers?” Jase surprised Aidan with his insight. The Jamaican potter and Meagan were both instructors at a Royal Oak art studio, and the rest of the faculty had been invited. “I know all of them, but some brought dates who aren’t long-time companions. You want me to make some calls?”

“If you can do it without raising any hackles.” Aidan picked up his untouched coffee mug and fiddled with the handle. “We don’t want to tip off the kidnappers that we’re investigating rather than waiting for a ransom demand.”

“It may not have been the djinni at the wedding anyway,” Elise reminded them all. “You said he could be nothing more than hired magic. How much easier would it have been for an elf to sneak in? Aidan, you may be right to start looking at your staff again. Or even higher.”

Elise had never trusted the Fae, especially the members of the Seelie Court. Aidan wasn’t sure, but he thought that might have something to do with her
Wyndewin
training—none of that bunch had ever been overly friendly. Unfortunately, that distrust had been one of the insurmountable problems in their relationship. After the fiasco with Fianna, however, he wasn’t going to discount the possibility that someone from the court had been involved. Only a couple elven nobles had attended the wedding—though the whole court had been at the earlier ceremony held Underhill, which Elise and her daughter had not attended. Still, one of them might have managed to slip in a spy.

“Right. Wallis, let’s you and I head for home. We can round up the staff and start asking questions.” He looked around the room and let his gaze linger on the two werewolves. “Greg, you want to come with me, while George and Jase stay here with Elise?”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Elise stood and glared at him. “I’m coming with you.”

All the men in the room looked around nervously—none of them wanting to tangle with a pissed-off mother who was also a powerful witch. Aidan couldn’t blame them.

“We’ll stay here in case the phone rings.” Jase broke the tense silence with his offer.

“I’ll ride with Novak.” Wallis spoke hurriedly, tossing Aidan the Ferrari keys.

Coward,
Aidan mouthed back at his lieutenant, who smiled. Turning to Elise, Aidan sighed. “Fine. Go get dressed.”

Elise kept her mouth shut on the drive from Birmingham to Grosse Pointe. The sleek sports car ate up the miles at a rapid clip, but she wasn’t worried about that. Aidan’s better-than-human reflexes and perception made him a safe driver at any speed and she was sure there was a spell on the car to keep police looking the other direction.

This close to him, she could still smell him—Scotch, expensive cologne and over both, the scent of Aidan himself, the one she remembered all too well. Touching him again made her feel like an addict falling off the wagon. Her fingers itched to slide over him, even though her brain was entirely locked on Dina. She didn’t say anything because she had no idea what to say. Her toes tapped restlessly against the floor mat.

“I’m surprised you didn’t give her the malachite,” Aidan said finally, about fifteen minutes into the silence. “That would be handy about now. Though I probably never thanked you for loaning it to Meagan. Shocked the living hell out of me when it went off. After five years, I figured you’d probably tossed it.”

Elise reached up and wrapped her hand around the green stone amulet Aidan had given her when they were dating. Sort of a magical GPS beacon, it was keyed to Aidan and she supposed she’d held onto it as one lingering way of keeping him close even after their split, though when her friend had been in danger, she’d loaned it to Meagan.

“She told me.” Elise grimaced. She didn’t want to think nice things about Aidan right now. “Dina has one of her own. It’s pink quartz and it’s keyed to me and Des. It was lying on her floor tonight. Whoever took her must have recognized the magic and taken it off.” She pulled it out of the pocket of her jeans and studied the broken necklace. The silver chain Dina wore it on had been snapped and Elise cringed to think of her baby being subjected to even that much pain and brutality. What were they doing to her now?

“Stop it.” Aidan took one hand off the gearshift for a moment to squeeze hers. “She’ll be fine. There shouldn’t be any reason to hurt a hostage. Whatever they want is from you, or more likely, me. In order to bargain, they need to keep Dina in one piece.”

“You’re right.” It had always been uncanny, how he’d known what she was thinking and feeling. Reading surface thoughts was a common Fae ability, but most of them couldn’t get past
Wyndewin
shields. That immunity was one of the things that made
Wyndewin
enforcers effective against the Fae. With her and Aidan, though, the shields hadn’t mattered. They’d been that attuned to one another.

“We’re going to get her back, Elise.” She was surprised at the rough emotion in Aidan’s normally steady tone. “I promise you that, on my life and honor. Whatever it takes.”

“She’s not yours, Aidan.” How often did she have to remind him? She couldn’t have him getting too attached, not even to the idea of Dina.

“She could have been,” he muttered in the gruffest tone she’d ever heard him use. “She
should
have been. Even if there’s no biological link, if you’d told me, I’d have accepted her.”

“I know.” Deep inside, she had, she realized. She simply hadn’t allowed herself to think about it. “But it still wouldn’t have worked. The problems between us—they were just too overwhelming.” She’d been telling herself that for almost five years. The mantra had helped keep her sane.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Aidan pulled his hand away to shift gears. “We’re still going to find her. Nobody should ever get away with abducting a child, no matter who her parents are or aren’t.”

They reached the mansion that housed the portal into Faerie, usually called Underhill by the Fae. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Elise found herself ensconced in a chair in Aidan’s library, though this time it was in the larger room, not his private den. For a pirate-turned-corporate raider, the man sure appreciated books. She’d always loved that about him—the complexity that kept him from being merely another soulless suit.

The ruthless pirate face was back in evidence, however, as he paced back and forth in front of his assembled household staff. Pictures of Dina and a description of her pajamas had been printed off and passed around the table. Wallis and Greg guarded the double doors to the rest of the house, while Toby, Aidan’s most faithful retainer, stood beside the unobtrusive wooden doorway that led to the inner sanctum where she’d chatted with Aidan earlier. That room also, she guessed, housed the portal to Underhill. Toby had a wicked-looking cutlass in his hand and a martial gleam in his brown eyes. No one would be escaping by that route.

All the live-in servants were sidhe—elven, brownie, pixie, or gnome, so there was no need for Aidan to hide his nature from any of them. He was even more imposing with his glamour dropped. Even Elise might have been intimidated if she hadn’t been too caught up with worry about Dina. She twisted her fingers, anxious to do something, anything, rather than sit here and wait.

“You’ve all heard by now that Ms. Sutton’s four-year-old daughter has been abducted and that at least one Fae was involved. First of all, let me make a one-time offer.” His voice was like icy silk. “If any of you know anything about this kidnapping, anything at all, you have thirty seconds to tell me and I’ll let you live. Starting
now.
” He paused and she could almost hear him mentally counting the seconds. When had he developed a tic beside his jaw?

There was no response from the dozen or so nervous sidhe sitting around the large reading table.

Exactly thirty seconds later, Aidan bared his teeth, his expression so violent, even Elise shivered. “Mercy is now off the table. Anyone involved in abducting my daughter is going to die. Slowly. Is that clear?”

There were a few gulps and a couple of nods of agreement from the assembled staff.

Aidan continued in his same smooth, frigid tone. “I’m going to go around the room. Each one of you will tell me in excruciating detail exactly what you were doing from the moment the reception ended until you were dragged in here five minutes ago. Let’s start with you, Mairead.”

The middle-aged…gnome?…pursed her lips. “I supervised the clean-up in the ballroom.” She wrinkled her brow, as if working to remember. “Kept an eye on the hired crew to be sure they didn’t walk off with anything.” The ballroom had been set up as additional reception space for those guests who preferred not to sit outdoors. With large French doors opening into the garden, it had been a natural extension of the reception area and full of people coming and going all afternoon.

“After that, I joined some of the other staff in the kitchen for leftovers and a chat,” Mairead continued. Ticking off her fingers, she listed five others who’d been there, including Toby, who nodded. “We played some cards, before I…ummm…retired.”

Elise could have sworn Mairead blushed, right to the roots of her silvery hair.

“With me,” Toby interjected, his own weathered face turning red. “She was with me all night.”

The twitch in Aidan’s chin moved up to his lips, but he didn’t quite smile. “Thank you, Toby.” His gaze moved around the table to his housekeeper. “Bronwyn?”

She’d been involved in the card game as well and had retired alone shortly after midnight. So had the butler, the cook and one of the security guards, who was apparently Toby’s nephew.

One of the two maids had spent the night with the groundskeeper, the other had gone out with a wedding guest—she’d just walked in the door when Wallis had pulled her into the library. The young elf trembled visibly, as if she knew how bad the situation looked. “I left with the band.”

“I saw her at the bar with them afterward.” Greg cast her a reassuring wink. “She was pretty busy with the guitar player and the drummer. They didn’t leave until closing time. I doubt she had time to get up to anything else.”

The other two security guards had been on duty, which accounted for everyone—not that their stories could be verified, at least the ones who’d been asleep alone when the kidnapping had occurred.

“Very well.” Aidan nodded crisply. “The house is on full lockdown until further notice. Nobody in, nobody out without my express permission. Mairead, cancel all my appointments for the next several days. Wallis, Toby, stay. Security—you know the lockdown procedure. Get to it. The rest of you go back to bed for an hour or two.” It was a good thing none of the wedding guests had stayed the night. That would have complicated matters tremendously.

“Of course, my lord.” Each of the staff murmured something to that effect as they moved toward the door. Mairead, Aidan’s secretary, came over and took Elise’s hand.

“I’m so sorry,” she said kindly. “If there’s anything you need, miss, you let me know. Anything at all.”

“Thank you,” Elise said. “I don’t know…” All she needed was to have her daughter back. It was too hard to think about anything as simple as physical needs.

“I know we never met before, but we’ve spoken, many times.” The small, wizened woman patted Elise’s hand. “I was Lord Green Oak’s secretary before he moved the corporate headquarters to Michigan and I came out of retirement after Fianna…left.”

Ah, that’s why her voice seemed so familiar. Aidan’s secretary had always been kind to Elise when she’d called on her boss’s behalf to cancel dates or reschedule weekends together. It wasn’t Mairead’s fault that Aidan should have taken care of such personal tasks himself. Despite the situation, Elise managed to smile. “Thank you, Mairead.”

The motherly gnome bustled off and Elise turned her focus back to Aidan and the other men.

“Greg, did you pick up any obvious lying?” Aidan had turned to the werewolf who’d been leaning negligently against the foot of the library table. The taut lines of his body belied his casual stance.

“No. Though I’d keep an eye on the groundskeeper—Dylan, I think his name was—and his pet maid, Jennet. There was something shifty about those two. And for all they implied, they didn’t smell of sex.”

Elise cringed. She’d forgotten how sensitive a werewolf’s nose could be.

“Thanks.” Aidan tipped his head. “I want you to wander around and see if you pick up the scent of a djinni anywhere in the house or garden.”

Greg nodded curtly and strode from the room.

“What can I do, Cap’n?” Toby’s tone was gruff and concerned.

“Toby, I need you to go gather information.” Aidan continued to pace. “You’ve still got some connections with the…less highbrow sidhe. I need to know if anyone has heard anything about a djinni working with Owain Le Faire’s movement, or one doing freelance work for any other elf. Also find out who’s running the purity faction now that Owain is dead. I assume it’s his son Oswald.”

“Got it.” Toby saluted Aidan, bowed to Elise and took off toward the portal.

Elise recognized the name Owain Le Faire as the elf who’d tried to kill Meagan last summer. Ric had killed Owain in a duel, but much like human supremacy groups, the elven one always sprung a new head when the old one was cut off.

A shudder raked through her as she remembered that Meagan had been targeted partly because of her mixed blood. Dina might not be half-Fae, but as long as anyone thought she was, she was in the same kind of danger. The only thing that kept Elise from screaming was the knowledge that if murder had been their intent, they wouldn’t have had to take Dina with them.

“Wallis, you’re monitoring phones and internal security. The wolf gets to go wherever he wants, but keep tabs on everyone else. Keep in contact with George and Jase at Elise’s apartment. Put a call through to Sir Alaric’s hotel in Paris—tell them to stay the hell put, but they’ll gut me if we keep them in the dark on this. Tell him we’re keeping him poised in case we need someone in Europe.”

Wallis nodded and left the room. Aidan approached Elise’s chair and held out a hand.

“I should go home…” She let him help her to her feet and didn’t even argue when his arm wrapped around her waist. A huge yawn split her jaws and her eyes filled with tears. How could she even think about sleeping when her daughter was in danger?

“You’re exhausted,
leannan.
It’s almost six in the morning and you’re in shock, whether you realize it or not. You won’t do Dina any good if you make yourself ill. I’m going to take you upstairs and we’ll both grab a power nap while Toby is working his own brand of magic Underhill.” Before she could protest again, he swept her up into his arms and carried her out of the room.

***

Aidan saw Mairead suppress an approving smile and Greg openly smirk as he moved past them in the hallway.

“There are some night things laid out in the blue bedroom.” Bronwyn, the housekeeper, stood behind Mairead in the hallway. “Can I send up anything to eat or drink?”

“No thanks,” Aidan replied. He carried Elise up the stairs. She weighed next to nothing—even less than he remembered. Had she been taking care of herself or running herself ragged with her daughter and her business?

“You told your people that Dina’s your daughter.” Elise spoke into the side of his neck. Her tone made him think she wasn’t sure whether or not to be angry. “Why?”

Aidan grimaced. She’d caught that, had she? “I didn’t want to decrease her value as a hostage, if that’s the point. If the kidnapper is targeting me for ransom, or something else, I don’t want him to think he might have made a mistake. If Dina isn’t valuable to me, she
becomes worthless to them, which makes her a liability rather than an asset. Whoever this is probably doesn’t know me well enough to know it wouldn’t make any difference.”

“Then he’s an idiot.” She yawned again and snuggled into his chest.

Aidan smiled at the unintentional compliment. Even when they were together, words of praise from Elise had been infrequent. The cherry-blossom scent of her shampoo drifted into his nostrils, reminding him viscerally of all the times he’d held her close and how long it had been since the last time.

His body made a half-hearted attempt at arousal, despite his own fatigue and tension, but fortunately, Elise didn’t seem to notice. He toed open the door of the blue guestroom—right across the hall from his own suite and well away from anyone else in the house, bless Bronwyn’s romantic heart. There was a high-necked white linen nightgown on the foot of the turned-down bed, along with a terry-cloth robe and a pair of slippers.