“They’re waiting for you,” Alex told his cousins, and they marched the three young men into the living room, then stopped with them in the middle of the space.
He wasn’t psychic or empathic, but Alex could still feel the wave of fury that radiated from the watching witches and warlocks as they looked upon the trio who had caused so much havoc. Angela had still been holding hands with Connor, but in that moment she let go and turned toward the three captives. Her green eyes blazed pure emerald, and her pretty mouth pulled into a flat line.
“Tomas Aguirre, Jorge Aguirre…Matías Escobar…your crimes have put you beyond the pale. No witch or wizard has dared to lift a hand against their own for generations.”
Well, except maybe Connor’s dear departed brother, Alex thought with some irony. Although in that case, he never intended to hurt Angela, only make her his own. Even he wouldn’t have stooped to the sort of foul magic Matías was using.
She hesitated, and looked up at Connor. Looking very grim himself, he said, “And because you have committed crimes that haven’t been seen for generations, we thought it only fitting that you should suffer a punishment that hasn’t been handed down for generations.”
Jorge and Tomas maintained their hangdog looks, but Matías glared at the prima and primus out of his bruised eyes, his mouth curling in a sneer.
“You can’t do anything to us.”
Luz spoke up then. “Actually, they can. I’m surprised word didn’t get around about what can happen when you go up against a prima and primus working together.”
For the first time, Matías appeared frightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek as he fought to maintain his current defiant stance. His two companions only exchanged puzzled glances. Obviously, they didn’t have a clue as to what Alex’s mother was talking about.
Angela said, her voice soft but her tone cutting, “You see, we all agreed that you should be punished for what you’ve done, but a civilian prison isn’t much good when it comes to keeping someone with witch blood locked up. However, if your powers were taken from you….”
Matías shook his head. “You can’t do that.” The words were defiant, but Alex couldn’t help detecting a note of worry in them.
“Oh, I think we can.” She looked past Matías to Jack Sandoval. “Detective, why don’t you let them know what they’re facing?”
“Up to ten years each for kidnapping, but that’s moot, since they’re all on the hook for first-degree murder. Life, or the death penalty. I think I know what the judge is going to go for, once the particulars of Roslyn McAllister’s murder come out.” Jack didn’t seem to take any pleasure in saying this. Maybe it was because of Tricia McAllister’s white, stricken face. Roslyn hadn’t been just a distant cousin, but her niece.
“I didn’t kill no one — ” Tomas began, and Jack overrode him, saying,
“Doesn’t matter. You were an accessory to first-degree murder — a murder that followed a kidnapping, which means special circumstances. You’re equally on the hook.”
Looking pale, the warlock subsided, but Matías wasn’t so ready to back down.
“You got nothing on us, pendejo.”
“Well, about that — ” He glanced over at Oscar, who’d remained silent during the whole exchange. “Want to tell him what you ‘got’ on him?”
“With pleasure.” Oscar stepped forward. He was ten or so years older than Jack, with tired dark eyes that had seen too much. “We followed up the lead Miguel gave us and got a warrant for the address associated with the mail drop rented in Tucson. When we searched that residence, we found Roslyn McAllister’s body.”
Tricia let out a small moan, and Caitlin reached over and took her mother’s hand in hers, while on the other side, Caitlin’s father dropped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. For herself, Caitlin looked pale but composed. Then again, she’d had a little more time to come to grips with her cousin’s death.
Luz and Angela and Connor remained silent, waiting, while Matías clenched his hands at his sides and seemed as if he wanted nothing more than to lash out at all of them. But because he was surrounded and outnumbered, he stayed where he was, seething, while the two other warlocks appeared as if they were ready to have the earth swallow them up. Better that than face the combined wrath of the McAllister prima and the Wilcox primus…not to mention the stern justice of the civilian legal system.
After pausing a few seconds, probably to let everyone regain what they could of their composure, Oscar went on, “We also found a quantity of spilled blood and what appeared to be some kind of ritual knife with Roslyn’s blood on it, along with fingerprints that we’re certain will match those of our perpetrators here. We’ll find out for sure when we take them in, but at the moment there’s sufficient evidence for an arrest.”