“Well, that’s interesting,” he said at last, setting the phone down on the tabletop so he could pick up his neglected coffee and take a sip.
“What is?”
“We have someone in the clan — my cousin Miguel, who lives up in Mesa — who’s a private investigator. His talent is always being able to tell when someone is lying. Convenient for his line of work.”
“I can imagine.”
“Anyway, my mother had him look into that house where Matías and the others took you, to see if there was any kind of a connection between them and the house.”
“And was there?”
Alex shook his head. “Not exactly. Turns out the place is owned by a couple of snowbirds from Chicago. They’d just gone back up north the week before, had the house listed with a rental company that specializes in short-term vacation rentals of houses and condos. But there’s no record of anyone renting it yet, which means the warlocks were just using it, knowing it was vacant.”
It would have been so much easier if Matías and his goons had rented the place legitimately. But that would have meant leaving some kind of paper trail, something Caitlin knew they would have worked hard to avoid. “So…do you think they were keeping an eye on available rentals in the area, knowing they could use one if the opportunity presented itself?”
“That sounds about right.” Alex ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, pushing back the one bit that always seemed to droop over his forehead. “I mean, pretty much any witch or warlock can get into a locked house, so it would be easy. And since it’s spring break for ASU — U of A is off next week — no one would probably think twice about seeing a group of college-age guys going in and out of a house that was up for rent.”
There wasn’t much Caitlin could find to argue with in that logic. But still…. “I suppose that makes sense. What I don’t understand is how they were able to target us. I mean, the only people who knew Roslyn and Danica and I were even coming here to Tucson were your mother and Maya. I kind of doubt they’d be spreading that information around.”
“No,” Alex said at once. “I mean, your travel plans were your business, and if you’d come across any de la Paz witches or warlocks while you were here doing your thing in Tucson, they would have known you were here with permission and wouldn’t have thought much about it.” His brows drew together, as if he was mentally attempting to put the pieces together, and he continued, “But if any of those warlocks has the kind of talent my abuela has…had…they might have been able to sense you from much farther away than a regular witch or warlock could. I don’t know why they would have been hanging around here in the first place, as you’d think they’d have better hunting up in the Phoenix area, but if one of them did have that gift, they would have felt you three as soon as you came into town. And then….”
Caitlin could tell he didn’t want to finish the idea, so she did it for him. “And then they came after us because we were three witches a long way from home, without the support of our clan anywhere near us. Easy pickings.”
Somberly, Alex nodded. “Yeah, I’m afraid that’s pretty much exactly how it must have happened. And it never would have happened, if my grandmother still commanded the powers she once did. I’m sorry.”
On an impulse, Caitlin reached out and laid her hands on his. He didn’t try to move away, but rather wrapped his fingers around hers so they were intertwined. His skin was warm, his grasp strong. A tingling heat went through her, telling her that maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. No way would she pull her hands from his now, though.
She cleared her throat and said, “Alex, that’s not her fault. No one is going to put that on her. She’s ill.”
“I know, but — ”
“But nothing,” Caitlin said firmly. She gave his fingers a squeeze and let go, then picked up her iced tea, as if that was the real reason she’d lifted her hands from his. Of course it wasn’t; she was just too ruffled by the way his touch made her feel. He didn’t need to know that, though. “The only people at fault here are Matías and Tomas and Jorge, and maybe Simón Santiago, if it turns out they really are from his clan, and he knew what they were capable of but didn’t stop them from coming over here. That’s it.”
“I’m glad you see it that way.” Alex didn’t look particularly cheered up as he said this, however, and went back to stirring his undoctored coffee, which had to rapidly be going cold. “But will other people?”