Corruption (Grumpy Old Wizards Book 2) (4 page)

Vickie could only serve about a third of the customers compared to her production rate before becoming a category six. Josephine had taken the risk of assisting Vickie with deactivating her aequitas enchantment as there would have been no way she could create any restoration enchantments with a magical leash tethering her. It still wasn’t enough. Vickie and Josephine gathered in the living room.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t talk for long,” Vickie said.

“That’s okay. I just wanted to check in with you. There’s someone stalking Gary and I and I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I feel like my life is falling apart.” Vickie’s eyes reflected her despair. “I’m going to have to give up my business if I can’t improve my ability. I don’t understand why some people want to be a six so bad. It’s ruined everything.”

“Think of the positives. You’ll stay young practically forever, you have more power than ever and you can create all kinds of enchantments no lesser wizard can dream of.”

“But some enchantments are beyond my ability to master anymore like the restoration spells. Without that, my business is destroyed. I’ve had to tap into my emergency savings account and it will run dry in about five months.”

“That’s plenty of time to master your new talent.” Josephine offered an encouraging smile.

“I haven’t made any improvements. I just don’t see a way out of this.”

“I’m sure you could get a decent job.”

“I don’t want to work for someone. I can’t stand it.”

Josephine didn’t know what else to say. She commiserated with Vickie’s plight but the woman was young and resilient. Josephine was confident that Vickie would find work she enjoyed just as much as owning her own business.

“No one’s been following you?” Josephine asked.

“I don’t have any stalkers,” Vickie said.

“What about strangers approaching you?”

“What do you mean exactly?” Vickie asked in a guarded tone.

“I don’t know.” Josephine made a helpless gesture as she tried to think of a concrete example. “Maybe someone pretending to be the cable man or something? Maybe a stranger posing as a government official asking you personal questions?”

“No.”

“There’s nothing out of the ordinary?” Josephine leveled a shrewd gaze at Vickie.

“Besides my life being ruined, everything is normal.” Vickie glared at Josephine with impatience. “I appreciate how you helped me gain control over my ability. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you but the longer I spend away from my work, the more sales I lose.”

“Of course.” Josephine rose from her chair and offered a sympathetic smile. “Thank you for your time, Vickie.”

When Josephine returned to her residence, she found a large paper taped to her door which read: “You don’t belong here, slut.”

An angry smile formed on Josephine’s face as she crumpled the paper in a tight fist. Dale had just made it crystal clear that he’d never accept a truce with her. Josephine was tired of making nice with her enemies. She would jinx him good. She tossed the wadded paper in the air and watched it burst into flames under her pyrokinetic spell. The fireball dropped toward the floor and burst into black soot as it landed. Josephine believed in cleaning up one’s own mess so she waved her hand over the black soot which sparkled with golden radiance for several seconds before vanishing. Josephine stormed over to the elevator then made her way to Dale’s condo. She didn’t bother with announcing her presence. Josephine frowned with bemusement at the new ward he’d installed. This was a professional job and not something to be trifled with; however, she made quick work of it. Josephine activated her protection.

The door swung open under the influence of Josephine’s telekinetic spell. She burst into the room to find a tall man with a shaved head and dressed all in black. She opened her psychometric senses to pick up the subtle energies of the room. Information and impressions came to her with ease. The man’s name was Zack and he was a bodyguard. Dale had hired ZR Security to update his wards and assign personal protection as he’d known Josephine would retaliate. Josephine realized maybe she shouldn’t have shown the extent of her abilities to him. What he didn’t comprehend was that she could do much more than she’d demonstrated. Dale emerged in the room with a smug grin on his face.

“You’re a psycho bitch and now I’ve got a witness. You’re going to be kicked out of here just like you deserve!” Dale said.

“That remains to be seen, you skanky toad.” Josephine’s eyes twinkled with determination and amusement.

Zack unleashed a powerful telekinetic blast that pounded against Josephine’s protection. Josephine returned his attack with one of her own. After a couple of long moments, Josephine was forced to activate her backup protection. Maybe this was a battle she was destined to lose. Maybe she should admit to herself she wasn’t part of this world of retirees and move into a condo or even purchase a house. Zack’s expression was determined as he continued to attack and Dale joined in. Josephine’s fear was replaced with anger as she thought back to all those years where she’d worked in different jobs she hated. She suffered for many years as a customer service representative for QT Sporting Goods and clawed her way up to one of the team managers. When the company had become bankrupt, she’d endured many years of administrative assistant work with no opportunities for promotion in spite of her previous qualifications and hard work. After a lifetime of arduous labor, just like Dale or any other elderly citizen, Josephine deserved the same entitlements and privileges.  She refused to let a miserable worm of a man take it all away from her without a fight.

Josephine wished she could tap into the power vortex from here. It would have made this battle a lot more doable. Despair welled up inside her as she felt her backup protection waning. She would be defenseless in less than a moment. Josephine turned her attention completely to Zack and redoubled her efforts. Dale would be a piece of cake if she could just take down the professional. Josephine marveled at how many shields Zack possessed. She’d already burned through over a dozen of his enchantments and he kept coming up with more. A blue sphere of energy encircling Zack flickered for several seconds as his latest shield collapsed. Josephine didn’t pause to savor this latest victory. Her next attack hit Zack in the chest and his body hurtled backwards across the room. He hit the wall with enough force to shake the room. Dale’s jaw dropped with shock as he watched his bodyguard.

Zack managed to stay on his feet and even returned a blast of telekinetic energy at Josephine. Josephine’s shield almost buckled but remained active. Josephine cast a knockout spell and her face lit up with triumph as Zack crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. She turned to face Dale and made short work of his protection. She knocked him out with another spell then used lipstick to write “loser” on his forehead. Next, she pulled his pants down to his ankles. Josephine wasn’t surprised to discover he wore whitey tighties. In her vast life experience, she’d learned that men who pissed her off tended to wear this unremarkable style. Josephine knelt on the floor beside Zack’s unconscious body as she pulled out a memory loss enchantment which was embedded in a small, thin wand the size of a pencil for convenience. She cast the spell to repress all memory of her visit. While it was impossible to actually remove memories, an effective memory loss spell could bury the memory so deep it was as good as gone.

Josephine cast the same spell on Dale so he wouldn’t know for sure what had happened. She took up a position near the front door and smiled at the scene before her with immense satisfaction. She cast an ignotus enchantment on the condo which would make it impossible for anyone to use psychometry to read what had happened here. Even a category six wizard would find it extremely challenging. Dale didn’t have the resources to hire any sixes to build a case against Josephine. As she rode the elevator heading for her floor, Josephine reflected on her recent activities and realized how accurate Helen and Alice had been when they’d remarked she displayed a tendency for illegal activities. However, Dale had attacked her with jinxes and left nasty messages for her on numerous occasions so it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve some payback.

Chapter 4

As luck would have it, Josephine was assigned to Alex Riley and her grandson, Jake, for her first day on the job. Josephine abhorred the texture of the rough fabric that comprised the police uniform as it pressed against her skin. The first case was a murder in Venice. Josephine, Alex and Jake entered the house which already had the police and forensics officers at the scene. The deceased was a middle-aged man who’d been found in his bedroom with a shot to the temple. Josephine stood in front of the king-size bed and opened her second sight. Subtle energy danced all around her and she reached out with her mind to open the secrets they contained. Someone had tried to cover their tracks with a cheap ignotus enchantment. Information flowed into Josephine’s mind and she sifted through it until she came to the answer. Even then, she allowed the process to continue in case there was more relevant data that may prove helpful.

Josephine turned to address Alex and Jake. “Mr. Ritter was murdered by his nephew, Dirk. He’s a sociopath and desperate for money. He will have to share the inheritance with his siblings, Stacey and Ed. He plans on killing Ed tonight but is going to make it look like a suicide with a forged letter confessing to murdering Mr. Ritter here. You will discover there is a loose floorboard underneath the bed where the gun is hidden. It is registered to Ed and was stolen by Dirk to frame him.”

“That was brilliant.” Jake grinned at his grandmother with admiration. “We’ll have enough evidence to take him down in no time.”

“Do you happen to know the address for any of these people you saw in your vision?” Alex asked.

Josephine rattled off the address for Dirk, Stacey and Ed who all lived in nearby cities. Josephine would normally be released after reporting this information as a consultant so she found it interesting to remain involved in the rest of the process. Alex and Jake questioned neighbors for information and possible eye witnesses after they confiscated the murder weapon. Josephine kept her psychometric senses open so she continued to receive impressions as the detectives spoke with various individuals. She tuned into the energy emanating from the gun several times throughout the morning and picked up more information each time. She advised Alex and Jake where they could find evidence and they wrapped up the case in no time.

In the afternoon, Josephine worked on a couple of cold cases and found some new leads for Alex and Jake to work on. She was seated at her desk which was across from Jake and part of a row containing six desks like hers. Josephine’s eyes drifted over to the spot beside her and she stilled as realization hit. Mark Freeman, the intern she’d met the other night, sat there. There was no nameplate to identify him but a side-effect of utilizing her psychometry so much was that unintended psychic stimuli continued to drift in without effort. Mark strode up to them as if Josephine had conjured him up.

“Hey guys,” Mark said.

Jake and Alex greeted the intern with familiar ease and Josephine tried to imitate them. Mark’s smile warmed as he noticed her.

“Josephine, you got the job! Congrats!” He rushed over and gave her a hug.

Josephine’s eyes widened with surprise and she gave him an awkward pat on the back before pulling away.

“You two know each other?” Alex frowned with disapproval.

“Josephine’s my girlfriend,” Mark said.

Alex gaped at Mark then Josephine with astonishment while Jake’s eyes twinkled with mirth.

“We haven’t even gone out on a date yet. We’re just friends for now,” Josephine said.

“How about tonight after work? I’ll take us out for dinner,” Mark said.

Josephine struggled to come up with some excuse to decline but Alex had picked up on the situation and realized she wasn’t comfortable.

“That is a perfect first date,” Alex said. “And I know that Josephine couldn’t have anything planned right after work because we’re required to be available to extend our shift up to four hours every day this week.”

“That’s true. This week is our turn for extended availability,” Jake said. “There’s no way to make plans with the real world. Luckily we only have to take the hit once every five weeks.”

“That really stinks.” Josephine didn’t like the sound of this at all.

“Didn’t the chief of police explain that to you when you accepted the position?” Alex asked.

“He went over a lot of details that I can’t remember. I’ll have to read through the employee manual,” Josephine grumbled.

“So you can make it for dinner then, right?” Mark prompted.

“Yes, I can,” Josephine said with great reluctance.

“Perfect!”

Mark grinned with excitement as he went over to his desk and started on some paperwork. Josephine shot Alex a dirty look. Alex’s lips twitched in a smug grin as he turned away from her and set to work on his computer. Josephine was wracked with guilt over hurting the poor boy’s feelings. She would have to let him down easy. She just wasn’t sure how to accomplish this feat. Subtlety had never been one of her strengths. Josephine was dreading dinner so much that late in the afternoon, she sent an instant message to the chief of police requesting her team be assigned to investigate a murder even though it wasn’t their turn. Ben had replied back that he admired her initiative. A moment later, Alex heaved a grievous groan of disappointment as he received the assignment.

“My plans tonight are ruined,” Alex complained.

“Cheer up, Whiney. We don’t have a life in the real world this week, remember?” Josephine shot him a flippant smile.

Alex narrowed his eyes with a silent promise of payback. “You did this, didn’t you?”

It turned out Josephine solved this case with her normal efficiency. It wasn’t challenging to her at all and only prolonged their shift by half an hour. Alex was in a better mood as he strolled out of the police station. Jake approached Josephine with a friendly smile.

“Break a leg, grandma,” he said.

“It’s a date – not a play,” Josephine corrected him.

“Have a good time then.” Jake winked at her. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, sweetie,” Josephine said.

Jake turned to Mark. “See you later.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Mark escorted Josephine to his car which was a shiny black SUV. The interior still had that new car smell and Josephine wondered how a kid who’d just graduated from high school could afford such a thing. She decided to learn more and opened her second sight. She was surprised that very little information came to her. Mark parked at an Italian restaurant a couple of blocks off of Beneva and Webber. It was a small, cozy establishment that played soft classical music in the background. Every table had a candle and the waiter lit theirs as soon as he showed them to their seats. Josephine disliked mood lighting but had to admit the restaurant had a definite romantic ambience. Mark ordered soup and a pasta dish while Josephine chose her all-time favorite, lasagna.

“So what do you like to do for fun?” Mark asked.

Josephine considered the question and was tempted to be dishonest and tell him a bunch of boring things just to quell his interest.

“I like running at the beach – especially at four or five in the morning or after midnight when no one’s around.”

“That’s against the rules, isn’t it? I thought the beach closes at nightfall.”

“I tend to bend the rules when it suits me,” Josephine said. An instant later, she realized she wasn’t setting a good example to this impressionable youngster. “Of course, I normally obey all regulations and the law but I just have a couple of guilty pleasures.”

Mark offers a dismissive shrug. “Everyone has a few guilty pleasures, I’m sure.”

Josephine wasn’t sure how to address that so she took a bite of her lasagna which was delicious.

“Wow! This is absolutely divine! How did you find this place?” Josephine asked.

“I like exploring new restaurants.”

“Tell me what YOU like to do, Mark.”

“I love learning new things. I wish I could absorb information while I sleep and that I could speed read. I wish I could live forever.” Mark’s eyes shone with inner passion. “And there are some places I’d like to visit and explore. I want to see Stone Henge. There’s some evidence to suggest it’s a dormant vortex.”

Josephine straightened in her chair as her interest piqued over his mention of Stone Henge.

“How can that be? They can’t exist without us sensing them and I’ve never heard of a vortex being dormant,” she said.

“It’s a theory I’ve read about. Some people have tried to reactivate it.”

“But obviously no one has succeeded.”

“It just takes one trailblazer to pave the way for everyone else,” Mark said.

“That’s true,” Josephine agreed.

As they continued to converse, Josephine found herself enjoying his company. It was a shame he was so young and boyish. If he were just ten years older, she could probably summon some interest. They lapsed into silence as Mark escorted her to his vehicle. As they journeyed toward the police station, Josephine once again tried to utilize her psychometry to learn more about Mark. She still hardly knew anything about him except for what he’d told her at the restaurant once they arrived at their destination. Josephine reached out for the handle of the passenger door as she flashed a polite smile at Mark.

“Thank you for a pleasant evening,” she said.

Mark leaned forward and his lips met Josephine’s in a shocking, smoldering kiss. When Mark pulled away, Josephine discovered she was out of breath and her body sang with pleasure. A wondrous psychic flow of energy danced in the air between them.

“You’re more than welcome,” Mark said.

Josephine blinked with surprise. He no longer seemed a youngster but a virile, sexy male she wanted to know better. Josephine threw open the door as guilt flooded through her.

“Good night, Mark.”

“Good night.”

When Josephine reached her condo, she found Alice and Helen standing in the hallway in front of her door with matching expressions of reprisal on their faces.

“Where have you been, young lady?” Helen demanded.

“What on earth have you been up to?” Alice jumped in.

“Nothing bad,” Josephine said in a small, guilty tone.

“Well, that’s certainly disappointing.” Alice’s lips twisted with displeasure. “We’ve been waiting here for over an hour.”

“I discovered that every team at the police station takes turns being available for late shifts every five weeks. They don’t have to give you any warning at all.”

“That stinks. There’s no way to make plans with a schedule like that.” Helen threw her friend a commiserating look.

“So you’re saying you just worked late?” Alice prodded.

“Not exactly.”

“Aha!” Alice exclaimed. “Tell us all about it! I want details!”

Josephine grinned at her friends then went to her door and deactivated the wards so they could enter her condo and gather in the living room. Josephine filled them in on her first day as well as the date with Mark.

“The funny thing is, after that kiss, I’m changing my mind about him,” Josephine said.

Helen’s expression turned scandalous. “Don’t you think you’re rocking the cradle with that one?”

“You mean robbing the cradle,” Josephine corrected.

“Whatever.” Helen made a dismissive gesture. “The point is this kid is barely legal and you’re over eighty years old. Don’t you think that’s over the top?”

“I suppose so.” Josephine hated to give up on Mark now that there was a spark. “But I need to give this a chance. After all, he passed my compatibility test.”

“Vampires like sleeping with children, too,” Alice remarked.

“Excuse me?! Mark is an adult.” Josephine regarded her friend with outraged indignation. “And I’m not a vampire.”

“I’m just saying there are similarities here.”

“There’s something definitely odd about him though,” Josephine said with a thoughtful frown. “When I was riding with him in his car-”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Alice interrupted. “You said he owns an SUV.”

“Yes and people on earth call them cars,” Josephine said in a sarcastic tone.

“I think of them as trucks,” Alice remarked.

Josephine hated to think negative things about her friend but ever since she came up with the idea that Josephine had characteristics like a vampire, she’d become increasingly obnoxious.

“Anyway, when I was riding with him in his VEHICLE, I tuned into the psychometric energies and could pick up hardly anything. I checked for signs of an ignotus enchantment but there was nothing like that,” Josephine said.

“That’s very strange,” Helen commented. “What do you think it means?”

“Some people don’t produce a lot of psychometric energy. No one knows why.”

“It’s interesting. He’s a closed book to you with secrets,” Alice observed.

“That’s right. I have no advantages with him.”

“Except your life experience,” Helen pointed out. “I hope you’re not going to pursue a relationship with the poor boy.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t do it.” Josephine felt a surge of disappointment with her decision to let Mark go.