Page 60 of Cats Never Fly

Theafternoon was a bust.

Wesley’smid-century bungalow was a jumble of partially filled boxes and packing paper.Hisfavorite clothes were gone, and his neighbor said he’d left his budgie in its cage on her doorstep last night, begging her to adopt it.

Inother words, the fucker had skipped town.

Witheach bit of news, more sparks and smoke streamed from my mouth.Iwas pleased to see my magic returning, butIwould have preferred havingWesleyin my coils.

“Sonof a fire breather,”Imuttered asSimonsteered me out ofWesley’shouse.Assoon as we were clear of the door, he grasped my hand and tugged me over toVan’sSUV. “Iwanted to scare that bastard.Makehim give up his cohorts.”

TosayIwas irritated was an understatement.Mydragon was itching to break free and burnWesley’shouse to the ground.Sparksflew from my mouth at the idea.Oneblast of dragon fire is all it’d take to get things started.

“Iknow,”Simonsoothed.Herubbed his hand over my scale-covered arm.Histouch calmed my rage.Notcompletely, but enough.

“Whata useless day,”Igrowled.

“Vansaid they got some leads.We’llknow more when the results come back from their experts.”

Iclenched my teeth.Weweren’t doing enough.Thoseother supes were stuck in those cages.Theycould be sold or moved or tortured or magic only knew what before we found that building.

VanandDilloncame out a few minutes later.

“Findanything?”

Vanpursed his lips and shook his head.Hewas spewing almost as much smoke asIwas. “Nothingobvious.Norbert’speople are still in there, sorting through every little thing for a clue, and a mage from theSCwho specializes in finding cloaking spells is arriving tomorrow.Theymight still find something.”

Weall looked at the house again.Noone had jumped out to scream “aha” or “eureka” or whatever people shouted when they discovered something remarkable.Whatother leads were there that we could follow up on?

“Whateverhappened with those questionsHaydenwas going to ask his former pack mates?”

Vangrimaced. “Theydidn’t know anything.”

“Theydidn’t know anything, or they weren’t talking?”

“Asalpha,Hayden’ssenses are pretty sharp.Hecan identify when someone is lying almost as well as ahellhound.Ifhe says they didn’t know anything,Ibelieve him.”

“Fuck.”Ithought that summed things up perfectly.

“Notmuch else for us to do right now,”Vansaid, rubbing the back of his neck.

Thiswasnothow the day was supposed to go.

“Oh, andNorbertsaid they found your car.Rightwhere you said you left it by the lake.”

“I’mguessing they didn’t find any clues in it either?”

IdoubtedWesleyor his accomplices had even gone inside the car.Theywouldn’t have needed to becauseI’dbeen out of the car getting ready for my swim when they’d captured me.

“Notyet.”Vanshook his head. “Theywant to keep it for a couple more days though.TheSCis sending in a team to go through everything again.”

Isighed.

“Norbert’sposting someone outsideTheDrunkenDrake.Maybeyour manager will come back, and we’ll nab him there.”

Thetone of his voice said whatIalready knew.Noone expected my former manager to come back.I’dnever peggedWesleyas being smart or ambitious.Theidea that he could abduct meandevade being caught all on his own was ridiculous.Hemust be working for someone.Thenanother thought hit me.

“Aboutmy office at the bar,”Isaid, “he’d been in that room enough times to know there weren’t any hiding places or secrets stashed in there.Iremember thinking that it was loud when he first answered my call and then went somewhere quieter.Atthe time,I’dassumed he’d goneinto the office.Ibet he trashed it right after that like a toddler having a tantrum.”

“I’llletNorbertknowWesleymay not have been looking for anything.Andif that’s the case, he might not return.Althoughwe can’t be sure of that until we find him.”Vanlooked at me. “So, that leads me to my next question, what do you want to do?Stayhere or come back toWillowLake?I’llbe honest with you.Idon’t think you should stay inAspenBay, even with the local guys watching over your place.Butthe choice is yours.”