Diamond Fire (Hidden Legacy #3.5)- Ilona Andrews Page 0,27
a bunch of syringes with stuff in them and said to inject the fondant. And she told me not to poke myself with them and to wear plastic gloves.” He rolled his eyes. “Duh, like I’m stupid.”
Now came the most difficult part.
I opened my mouth and sang. The words didn’t matter, only the magic did. Jeremy listened, his jaw hanging slack. The magic wrapped around him, like a glittering veil, and he began to sing with me. “Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool, yes sir, yes sir, three bags full . . .”
I fell silent and gently untangled my magic from him, as it whispered into his mind. Forget, forget, forget.
His head drooped, his chin falling to his chest. He pitched forward slowly. His stomach touched the table. Jeremy jerked awake. He blinked at me, his eyes looking wild.
“They smashed some wine bottles,” I said. “Do you like wine, Jeremy?”
“I’m more of a beer guy.”
“Did you have anything to do with the break-in?” I asked him.
“Nope. It’s a shame though. I mean who would be dumb enough to break into a bakery?”
“Where were you last night between one and two?” I was so tired now. My voice was shaking.
“I was home. My brother will vouch for me. We stayed up playing video games.”
“Okay, Jeremy, you’re free to go.”
“Great.” He got up and offered me his hand. I shook it. His handshake was limp. “Great to meet you.” He walked out.
Nobody said anything. Rivera stared at his phone. Leon was grinning at me like a lunatic and holding two thumbs up.
Rivera looked up. “Okay, he went into the kitchen.”
“Well, that was something else,” Runa said.
A wild thought occurred to me. I stuck my hand out. “Catalina Baylor, of House Baylor, Prime Siren.”
Runa looked at my hand, took it carefully, and shook it. “Stay out of my head.”
“Don’t poison anybody I know, and I will.”
“Is the memory loss permanent?” Rivera asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“We’re going to watch him,” Rivera said. “My guess is he told you everything he knows, and she’s too smart to give him anything that could lead us to her. We’re going to proceed as if we bought the teenager wine story. We’re going to put guards here, because it’s expected.”
“If she wants to get into the wedding, it will have to be the waitstaff,” I said.
Rivera nodded. “That seems most likely.”
Leon stirred. “Carlos will be a problem. If he suspects Jeremy did this, he won’t be able to control himself.”
Rivera smiled. “We will tell him that he passed with flying colors. You already got them to sign the NDA.”
Rogan had emailed me a nondisclosure agreement that forbade Valentina and Carlos to even mention the word poison for the next two weeks. If they broke this agreement, we would immediately terminate our contract. If they managed to stick to it, Rogan would pay for the smashed wine bottles. I had to explain to them in excruciating detail that they, their online communications, and their phone calls would be monitored until after the wedding. It made me feel like a corporate gangster. Like I had come into their shop and smashed it demanding protection money, but it was all legal and binding.
“I think I would like to go now,” I told Leon.
Leon drove, while I fought my way through my text messages. Mrs. Rogan wanted to know if there was any progress on finding Sealight. There wasn’t, so I told her we were working on it. Rogan wanted to know if I was okay. I wasn’t, so I told him I was fine. Mom wanted to know if we were coming home for dinner. We were, and I said yes. Arabella wanted to know if she could put a piece of duct tape over Nevada’s mouth and fingers, so she would stop changing the stupid wedding. I told her no. I got a very nice email from Mia Rosa typed by her mother, which thanked me for the bedazzler. Which was awesome. Someone had asked me for something, I did it, and they were happy and said thank you.
The last text was from Bern. “Where are you?”
“In the car, with Leon.”
“Are you going back to Mountain Rose?”
“Yes, but only for a minute.” I needed to make sure they finished the tent like they were supposed to.
“I need you to find a safe place to pull over. I’m sending you some footage you need to see before you get there.”
What? “Send it. I’ll just look at it while