Face the Fire Page 0,40

made him leave."

"He vanished the remnants on the road?" It wasn't easy to get a word in when Ripley was on a roll, but Mac had carved out one salient point.

"Yeah - poof. It can be a pretty intense spell, depending on the, you know, quality and complexity of the evil and stuff." She jerked a shoulder and grabbed her coffee. "But I didn't see a trace of it, and I stopped and took a good look on the way back, just in case he'd missed something."

"Had he?"

"Nope. Not even a stray vibe left, which means he swept it clean."

"I wish he'd talked to me first," Mac complained. "I could've gotten some on-site readings and taken a sample for lab tests."

She sat back, shook her head at him. "Oh, yeah, just what I want my guy to have his fingers in, some evil black ooze."

"It's what I do." Mac sulked about it for a minute, then decided he might as well take a drive out and see if some of his more sensitive equipment could pick up anything.

"So let's backtrack a minute," he continued. "He told you that Mia told him she'd seen a large black wolf with the pentagram mark on his muzzle."

"That's the manifestation. Black wolf, red eyes, big fangs. Her mark on it. Had to be a hell of an image to shake the queen of weird."

"An image is just the point," Mac said. "Not an actual wolf. No living creature was possessed this time out. Could have something to do with her branding it last winter. But it was still potent enough to send her into a skid. That's interesting."

"And a bad one, from the way Sam was shaken up. I'll tell you what else is interesting." She leaned forward, hunching over what was left of her lunch and lowering her voice. "The guy sweeping up behind her, standing there looking at her place like some contemporary version of Heathcliff looking over the moors for Catherine - "

"Good one."

"Hey, I read. Anyway, him standing there, emotions all swirling - and trying to act all cool and casual about it. That's interesting."

"From what you told me, they had a very intense relationship."

"Had," Ripley confirmed. "I could see him being all moony if she'd dumped him way back when. But he's the one who pulled stakes."

"Doesn't mean he got over her."

"Guys don't carry torches for a frigging decade."

Smiling, Mac rubbed his hand over the back of hers. "I'd carry one for you."

"Get out." But she turned her hand over, linked her fingers with his. "Anyway, he doesn't want her to know he went out there. He says she'd be ticked if she knew he'd backed up her charms. And she would. But if you ask me, there's another layer. He doesn't want her to know he's stuck on her. It'd be funny if it wasn't so complicated, and if there wasn't so much at stake."

"Whatever was between them, is between them - or isn't - plays into what happens next. I've got some theories."

"You've always got some theories."

He smiled, inched forward. "We need to have a meeting. All parties."

"I figured." Like his, her voice was a whisper now. To the casual observer, it might have appeared they were flirting, or plotting an insurrection. "Let's have it at Zack's. Nell'll cook. We're scraping the bottom of the leftover barrel at home."

"Good thinking. How do we handle how much we know, and who told us what who doesn't want somebody else to know we know?"

"Jesus, I understand that." She grinned at him. "It must be love."

"Well, if it isn't Bill and Coo." Mia stepped up to the table, ran an affectionate hand over Mac's shoulder. "Don't the two of you look adorable?"

"Yeah, we're thinking about entering a contest." Ripley eased back, studied Mia's face. She had to give the woman credit, nothing showed but bone-deep beauty. "So what's up with you?"

"Oh, this and that." Mia left her hand on Mac's shoulder. Something about him always comforted her.

"Actually, there is something I need to speak with you about - and Nell."

A shadow of worry crossed her face as she glanced back at the cafe counter. "It'll have to wait a bit, though," Mia decided. "She's pretty tied up with customers at the moment."

Ripley considered how to play it, then went with instinct. "If this is about your dances with wolves, I know about it."

It was a toss-up, she thought, who looked more stunned, Mia or Mac. But at least Mia didn't