00 Mayan Thief (The FBI Paranormal Casefiles) Read online

  “I hadn’t thought about that at all.” He gunned the car down the street. Even though I didn’t look at him, I could sense the smile that played on his lips. “But if you were to go on a date with me, where would you like to go?”

  Oh no!

  The conversation was reeling away from me.

  “Shut up, and let’s just grab a burger somewhere.”

  “Alright. Whatever you want.” We stopped at a burger joint. The macabre scene should have killed our appetite, but I was ravenous. “What are we really going to do now that we’re sort of out of options? Max Fallon?”

  “He is the next logical step, but we have no way of knowing if Walter passed us good Intel. It could just be a random name thrown to appease me. Hmm.” Taking out my phone, I sent a quick message to Jeremy. “Let’s see if the boys can dig up something.”

  “That might take time. Maybe we should visit the other museums and private collections that were robbed.”

  “No point. I doubt we will find something new. I’ve a feeling that time is of paramount importance. We need to move fast, but where?” I sighed. As an idea clicked into my head, I logged into my amazon account and ordered a book. “I think we should try and figure out why Bella was killed.”

  He took a big bite of his burger. “Please. You can’t seriously think that her murder is related to the case?”

  “We don’t have much else to go on.” While I ate, I also skimmed through the eBook I ordered online. Bella had used a lot of hocus pocus. There wasn’t any substance to her spells. “This is just a hoax,” I said. “She was ripping off innocent people who maybe thought they had the gift.”

  “Are you always this dedicated to a case?”

  Something about his voice alerted me that he was a little upset. Closing my phone, I glanced at him. Yep. There was a definite pout on his lips.

  Was he pissed because I wasn’t giving him any attention?

  Surely Agent Hottie didn’t like me back.

  No way.

  The possibility, no matter how remote, bloomed in my heart and left me breathless.

  If I looked too deep in his eyes I would drown. “Yes, I always am. But of course, it’s more personal this time because they attacked the commune,” I said.

  “And because Augusta became their target?”

  There was no sense denying it. Ever since I lost my family, Augusta was the one who raised me. Sure, she didn’t show me much partiality because it would have been unfair to do so in front of the other kids. But she was a little softer towards me. I was the only one who didn’t have parents. Most other kids who lived and studied on the commune either had parents who lived there or their parents visited each weekend. “Yes, I’m very close to her.”

  “You will find those responsible for it.”

  It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Sweet as it was that he showed such faith in me, I was also a little taken aback. Our partnership started off on the wrong note. From day one, we were both hostile and a little distrustful of each other. It took me a long time to be able to place my faith in him, and even now I couldn’t say that I would trust him with my eyes closed. But then that was my problem. I was the one who had trouble trusting people.

  He was already relying on me far too much.

  I didn’t want him to do so. There could never be anything between us but work. I wasn’t made for relationships. I didn’t want such complications.

  Perhaps I was reading too much in his intentions.

  “Why don’t you tell me what else you like except chasing people?”

  Yes, he definitely was interested. It was time to nip this in the bud. I should just tell him that it was pointless for him to try and get to know me. I didn’t want him to make the effort, but those eyes sort of held on to me. There was something in there, a softness I didn’t see before. “I like to hang out at the beach,” I said. “There is something about the waves, the air, and the scent of the ocean, it reminds…” I cleared my throat. “It reminds me of home. What do you like to do in your spare time?”

  “I build things,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “You know, as in carpentry. I like to make wooden stuff.” A flush spread over his cheeks. He was actually embarrassed to admit it, but I could imagine him with his shirt off and sweat dribbling down his broad back. Oh man. A hot flush tingled up my spine. How I wanted this man. But desire was a fickle temptation. It could, and likely would, lead me to trouble. “Statues. Cabinets. That sort of thing.”

  “That’s nice. In my spare time, I end up gardening. It’s supposed to be therapeutic and it makes you one with nature, blah blah. But I don’t enjoy it.”

  Throwing back his head, he laughed. “It’s ok to not like it.”

  “Easy for you to say. You didn’t grow up in a commune where everyone simply loves nature. Sure, I love nature too, but I don’t want to spend five hours a day, under a hot, merciless sun, battling with weeds and whatnot.”

  “So no one can force you to do it if you don’t like it.”

  I snorted. Picking up my burger, I took another bite. “Yes, they do force me. Chores are equally divided in the commune.”

  “Guess we all have to abide by some rules.”

  It was easier for me to comply with the rules of the commune because that was my home. But with the FBI, I had a certain mistrust. It was probably because they were unable to solve the mystery of my family’s death. But that was the topic for another time, another place. And perhaps another man. Or maybe there were things in my heart that I would never be able to share with anyone.

  Certainly not him.

  He wasn’t the man for me, and he never could be.

  In silence, we finished our meal. If this was a first date, it was a pathetic one. But it was really nothing more than a shared meal between two colleagues who were bound to go their own way once this was over.

  And that was a fact I couldn’t afford to forget.

  Chapter Eleven

  So much for blind optimism.

  Two days later, we had nothing to show for all the trouble. Bella’s death cut off all leads. Now we’d nothing to really work with. Bryan was missing in action. He’d been called back to the office for a debriefing. I was beginning to get the feeling that Jones was losing his trust in us. There was no way I would willingly hand over the case to another team, but if he pulled us off it, we would lose FBI support – and it would be a blow to our investigation. Not to mention, if I plowed on after he’d pulled us away, I would get into trouble.

  But now that our commune was attacked, there was no way I could separate myself from the case.

  Problems.

  Problems.

  And I’d only one solution; we had to find a good, solid lead before he made the decision to give this case to someone else.

  “I’ve a bad feeling about it,” I muttered as Jeremy and I stood near the window. We were both trying to escape garden duty by pledging commitment to the case. “We have nothing really to show for all this effort.”

  “Even that Max Fallon lead didn’t pan out.” His voice was as gloomy as mine. “He has been dead for two years. The man was a notorious thief though, but he was never caught. He only stole really expensive stuff and sold it to the highest bidder, or sometimes he took contracts.” He turned to look at me. “There was another interesting fact; he made a coven of mages and ostensibly they were committed to learning and knowledge, but actually he trained them in the art of theft and magic.”

  “What a swell guy.”

  “After his death the coven disbanded.”

  “So we really have nothing to go on. Walter probably just threw in that name because he wanted me to get off his back.”

  “You never know with Walter.” Jeremy scratched his chin as he walked over to the computer. “I’m going to dig a little deep and see if I can find out more about Max Fallon.”

  In the meantime, I still had to pretend to work or else Maya would drag me for gardening. I would do anything to
avoid this. Taking out my IPad, I began to read the book of spells that Bella Singer wrote. If I couldn’t find real work, I would just invent some so that Maya’s baleful glance wouldn’t fall on me. It was an interesting read, but of course, none of the spells were real. Hmm. Why was she killed?

  The mystery baffled me.

  No matter what anyone said, I was convinced that her death had something to do with the case we worked on. There was some connection. I just had to find it. Suddenly, I sat straighter. Leaning forward, I reread the lines that got my attention. Taking out my cell phone, I checked the spell that the Professor decoded for us.

  “It’s identical,” I muttered.

  “What?” said Jeremy.

  “Look at this,” I said excitedly. “In the world between the worlds. There is power unlike other. To cross to another place, another time. One must see the setting sun on the appointed day.”

  “Where did you get the fourth line from?”

  This was the same spell that the professor gave us, and here it was in Bella’s book. “It was in the fortune teller’s book. She has described it as a way to line your inner chakras so that you can harness the full life energy that a body contains. Bull shit.”

  “But the lines are the same.”

  “Her spell is useless to a human who doesn’t have a gift, but it’s…the same as the one that the mages have been collecting by stealing the artifact. This book was published four years ago, but the thefts began to happen a few months ago. If they had this spell in this book, why did they need to get all those artifacts to collect the lines?”

  “Maybe they didn’t know her, or didn’t know that she had the spell.”

  It didn’t make sense. Some important pieces of this puzzle were missing, and until we got them, it wouldn’t fall into a cohesive whole. I put the phone down and began to pace. “But we’ve another line of this spell now.”

  “That is, if it is a real one.”

  “You know…I talked about a portal before and we all dismissed the idea….but the more I think about, the more it seems that this is what the original spell referred to. The appointed day is specific, and that’s what the date refers to.”

  Jeremy studied me as I paced the length of the room. “But we don’t know which year.”

  “We’ll find out. This is important because 8th February is only three days away.”

  I hadn’t forgotten the date the professor gave us.

  He tapped his fingers on the table. “But it doesn’t have to be this year, and even it is, I don’t understand how this portal could be dangerous. They are probably trying to reduce distances by opening a portal so that they can step from one place to another. It’s been tried before. Takes too much energy, and it usually kills the mage who tries it.”

  “No one has ever tried it with this spell.” Why would a group of mages dedicate themselves to this task if it was something that had already been done? Also, the danger was too great. To cross over from one part of the world to another in moments required one to travel through the valley of dead. It was forbidden, and that’s why few ever survived the journey. The only one who could communicate with the dead and walk among them was a spiritist, and there were few of them in the world. “What if this spell is for another portal?”

  “What else?”

  Taking a lock of my hair, I rolled it around my finger. I tugged it hard, and there was a sharp pain in the head. But no solution came to mind. “I don’t know. It’s really annoying.”

  “It’s probably nothing, Cleo.”

  No. It had to be something big. Something momentous. Something that was dangerous. If it was worth killing someone for then it was something we needed to stop from happening.

  But what could it be?

  Maya walked into the room, holding the baby. Seeing the little baby was always a surprise. It was kind of sad that she was still here. An orphan? Unwanted? What were the answers to her mystery?

  “So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

  “We’re working,” I said.

  Maya raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I can see that.” She snorted. “You know, it’s possible to think while pulling out some weeds.”

  The woman was obsessed with her gardens. She damn loved them. So did I, but I just wanted to enjoy the beauty and not put in the break-breaking work – and yes, I didn’t feel guilty about it. “She seems to have put on some weight.”

  Safer to change the topic than to get embroiled in a war of words with Maya.

  If wasn’t careful, I would be back on gardening duty.

  Walking over, I inspected the child. Her cheeks were a little plumper and the twinkle in her eyes a little brighter. Even if she was an orphan, she was well care for.

  Was she loved?

  I don’t know. For sure, Augusta, Maya, and Shelley were doing a good job but there was certainly no substitute for a parent. She deserved to be with her family, and yet they were the ones who likely abandoned her.

  “She is doing well. A good baby, yes, she is,” Maya cooed, her ire with me forgotten.

  Jeremy typed furiously, not giving Maya a chance to accuse him of hiding in here. For a moment, I forgot about the trouble that plagued us.

  The baby’s eyes mesmerized me. There was something in there, a strangeness, an intensity; sometimes it seemed as if she understood far more than what we realized. “I wonder where she came from?”

  “It’s sad what happened to her. Why would someone dump her like that? And how did they come in? We’d enough shields around our farmhouse to prevent anyone from just walking in, and yet there she was. It was almost as if she popped into existence from outer space,” said Maya. I gasped, took a step back. “What?”

  I stared at the child.

  Could it really be?

  And if yes, the answer to my mystery seemed clear. Crystal clear. And it was terrifying. My blood ran cold as the idea popped into my head.

  Surely, the mages who stole the artifacts weren’t planning what I thought they intended?

  No, they wouldn’t dare.

  Would they?

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  I must have been white as a ghost because Maya looked worried. Staggering back to the couch, I sat. “The baby…is she normal?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, has she displayed any strange behavior? Something…that might tell you that she is not human, maybe something else…”

  Maya snorted. She clutched the child closer as if I intended to harm her. “Don’t be silly. Cleo, sometimes you talk nonsense.”

  When she huffed, turned, and flounced out of the room, I sat back.

  “Way to go. That got rid of her. Hopefully she will not try to recruit us for gardening any time soon,” said Jeremy.

  I was lost in thought. The idea that percolated in my mind seemed far-fetched and yet it was the only thing that made sense. It explained the reason why the gang was going through such secrecy and why they killed someone. Of course, what they planned to do was ridiculous. It was dangerous beyond measure. No mage had ever attempted it because it was strictly forbidding. The aftermath of a spell of such magnitude would be monstrous. It was said that if anyone attempted it, he or she might spell the doom for the very planet we lived on.

  “They are trying to get into another dimension,” I finally said the words that bubbled in my mind.

  Jeremy leapt off the seat. “Never.”

  “It’s the only explanation for all the weird stuff. I told you that it had to be something big. That’s it. That’s what they are trying to do.”

  “They would be insane to attempt something that everyone up until now has left alone for a very good reason.”

  “You’re wrong, Cleo” said another voice. We turned to see Augusta, and behind her stood Mark. “No one in their right mind would attempt something so horrendous.”

  I shook my head. “They are, Augusta. It’s the only thing that’s worth the risks they are taking.”

  We argued
back and forth. Whatever they said, no matter how much they protested, I was pretty sure that I was finally on the right track. Everything about this case bothered me from the start; the mages took too many risks to steal stuff that wasn’t financially worth the trouble. They couldn’t really sell it in the open market, and trying their hand at a small spell, something that was attempted before and was known to be a failure didn’t make sense.

  This was what they were after.

  “They will do it, and it’s going to happen this year. They would never risk stealing all this stuff years before the actual incident. They know that the law enforcement will be after them, and we would be after them, so they would only steal when they really needed all this.”

  Augusta strode towards me. Grabbing my shoulders, she stared into my eyes. “Do you know what you’re suggesting? Such a thing has never been attempted, and whoever plans it has to be…”

  “Evil,” I said. “No one who has any love for human life or this world would ever try something of such magnitude.”

  “I can’t believe anyone would do this,” said Mark in a shaky voice.

  My gaze was fixed on Augusta. I’d to make her believe because she’d to give us permission to really go after these guys. If what I suspected was true, we would have to move fast. These thieves couldn’t be allowed to carry forward their plan.

  “You’ve to give us a good reason to accept these allegations.”

  I shrugged out of her grip. “What else do you need? They stole the artifacts, they are collecting a spell, and they killed someone. Maybe she got in their way. Maybe she threatened to expose them. Whatever their reason, they believed that their mission was worth killing for.”

  “Killing one person and risking the whole world are two very different things,” she said in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I…don’t think you’re right. No sane person would try to do the impossible. And we don’t even know who killed Bella Singer.”

  Frustration gnawed in my belly. Why couldn’t they believe me? Sure, I didn’t have much physical evidence, but every clue pointed in that direction. My instincts told me that I was on the right path. “You’ve to trust me. We’ve to move fast.”