Passionate Investigations (14 page)

Rosemary, basil, chives, dill, mint, coriander and parsley.
Her eyes skipped over each small tub as she hurried to fit them together in her
head with the purpose she had decided on.

There.
Satisfaction rolled through her.
Flaxseed.
Perfect. And a beautiful, bright orange flowering Californian poppy.

She’d given Miles the flaxseed plant as numerous studies
showed it could help keep the heart strong and healthy, even possibly lower the
chances of having a stroke. Early on in their relationship, Miles had asked her
assistance, explaining his father had died young from heart troubles. She’d
recommended the seeds and bought him the plant.

A side product of the seed was that it could act as a very
mild sedative. Zahra gathered her magic within her. It would take very little
effort for her to enhance that small property, to expand its potency.

The Californian poppy was a new plant, something she didn’t
recall from her previous visits. The pretty flower was incredibly deceptive.
The seeds were delicious in bread, but like the flaxseed it could also be used
as a gentle sedative, almost unnoticeable. Also like the flaxseed, Zahra held
no doubt that she could increase its effects to her advantage.

The trouble would be getting to them and not being noticed
by Miles.

Turning to face their captor, Zahra watched as he finished
restraining Rob to the chair he sat on. Satisfied with his work, Miles surveyed
her bound lover with a critical eye. Zahra knew she couldn’t afford to be
similar restrained. She had faith Ben would come through sooner or later, she
just didn’t feel comfortable in allowing herself to go down without a fight.

Pasting on the most innocent look she could summon, Zahra
pointed to the roll of paper towels that hung on the wall.

“Can I use that to clean up, please?”

Miles placed his palm over the gray, electric sparks that
coiled around Rob and bound him to the wooden chair. Satisfied, he stood up
straight and came over to her. Glancing at the scraped skin along her arm, he
nodded.

“Sure, mop that up and bind it with the sleeve of your
shirt.”

Dismissing her, he continued to the bench and grabbed the
file she’d dropped there earlier. Moving slowly in the hopes it wouldn’t raise
any alarm with Miles, she cast a quick glance back at Rob. He watched her with
hot green eyes, his lips pressed closed as he seemed to struggle to not say
anything.

“It’s okay,” she mouthed quickly to him. Hoping Rob
understood she had a plan—albeit a hazy one—in mind she waited while he nodded
in response before turning back again. Passing Miles as he stood at the counter,
she went to the far wall next to the sink and pulled a handful of paper towels
from the roll on a dispenser.

Acting as if she had just noticed the kettle, she bunched
the paper up and held it to her wound, pressing down hard.

“Do you still have those herbal teas I left here before we
broke up?” she asked in what she hoped was an innocent tone.

Miles looked up from the papers he scanned. For a moment his
gaze was blank, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. His gaze narrowed on her
suspiciously when he seemed to register her question.

“Sure, you know I don’t really like that crap you drink.
Tastes like you’re drinking bitter grass clippings.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. Zahra discovered she wasn’t
really cut out for this at all. She desperately wanted to turn and look at Rob
or her father for reassurance but didn’t dare move her gaze from Miles in case
he read her mannerisms.

“Can I make a pot of tea, please?” she didn’t need to fake
the wobble of fear and worry in her tone. She
was
scared and nervous as
hell.

“No,” Miles snapped with a frown. “You can switch the kettle
on, though. Use one of the tea bags. No funny business or I’ll cut my losses
and just kill the three of you here and now.”

Sweat broke out and ran down her back as she reached out a
shaking hand and flicked the switch on the kettle. This was nowhere near as
easy as she had originally hoped, but at least he hadn’t gagged her and bound
her to the chair just yet. She could feel the weight of Miles’s gaze on her
every twitch and move. She took great care to only use slow gestures, almost
exaggerating each action to prove her “innocent” intent.

“You always did putter around the kitchen or garden when you
had something on your mind,” Miles replied thoughtfully. He threw an arrogant,
knowing smirk over his shoulder to Rob. Miles appeared to enjoy rubbing Rob’s
face in their prior acquaintance. Fury seethed through her, but Zahra knew
there wasn’t much she could do about it just now.

She lay her palms facedown on the bench and spread her
fingers open, keeping them in plain sight while she tried to lead Miles along
the path she wanted. A cowardly part of her hoped Ben or Layla would come
crashing in, guns and magic blazing while she distracted Miles, but she also
plotted her own version of taking charge at the same time, just in case things
didn’t work out.

“Why did you kill Tanya?” she asked in a low tone. Zahra
understood enough to satisfy her curiosity and help her grieve for the loss of
her sister, but Miles didn’t know that and it seemed an easy way to start him
talking without triggering any alarm. After all, this was the entire reason she
had begun this whole investigation in the first place.

“Your stupid sister just didn’t know when to quit,” Miles
growled, clearly irritated. “If she had just left well enough alone, believed
the bullshit concoction we used to frame your buddy Rob over there then nothing
would have gone wrong. I’d be well on my way onto a seat in the Council and
my…associates…would be amply satisfied.”

Hearing that Miles was only one cog in a far greater machine
unsettled Zahra. She pushed that aside. She had far bigger worries to deal with
right now.

“Tanya discovered you framed Rob, that it was you who used
my father, me and her to pass along sensitive information to these associates
of yours,” Zahra said. Miles shrugged.

“None of that matters now,” he growled. “I thought it would
end with Tanya’s death. I
assured
the others that would close it all
off, stop the Investigation. But no, you and the disgraced reject over there
had to keep nosing around. This all falls back on you, bitch. You’ve forced me
into this. How does that feel? Knowing that the deaths of your father and lover
lie at your feet?”

Zahra swallowed hard. Rage emanated from Miles, his temper
unleashed upon her. Waves rolled from him and scared her down to the core.
Zahra reminded herself every second she could buy was important, and she wasn’t
precisely helpless either. She needed only a little more time before the kettle
boiled. Steeling herself, she held and kept Miles’s gaze with her own.

“Dad has helped you at every turn,” she pleaded with Miles. “Even
after we broke up he never turned you away. Why did you have to bring him into
this? If you let him go—”

“That’s not going to happen, I’m not a fool, Zahra,” Miles
snapped. “Look, get over here and—”

His order was cut off by the
snap
of the kettle
boiling and switching itself off. Zahra turned to the side, so she could look
at the steaming kettle and then turn her head back to stare at Miles.

“I can make you a plunger of coffee,” she offered. “I’ll sit
right here at the bench, my hands in plain sight, while I drink my tea. Your
coffee can steep. By the time I’m finished yours will be ready and then I’ll go
sit down.”

Miles glared at her, clearly trying to calculate her angle
in this. She prayed that he had paid as little attention to her dissertations
on herbs and what they were used for as she had assumed. In the past Miles’s
eyes used to glaze over and even when she’d only spoken a few sentences of
explanation for each plant and herb he had almost immediately grown bored and
changed the subject.

She gambled on the fact it wouldn’t cross his mind that the
small pots of herbs lining his windowsill could be used against him. She had a
feeling he’d grown so used to their presence he barely even knew they were
there. Meeting Miles’s gaze, she didn’t hide her fear, hoping it would feed his
feeling of power and being in charge.

Miles’s ego coupled with his ignorance would hopefully be
his downfall.

“Fine,” he replied, but continued to watch her every move
with exaggerated focus.

Zahra opened the cupboard and pulled out a single chamomile
tea bag. Dropping it into a mug, she placed it on the side of the sink in clear
view of Miles, but also where she could simply reach over to grab the herbs she
needed. Zahra poured boiling water over the bag, filling the mug. Placing the
kettle on the sink, she collected the small coffee plunger, scooped in a single
serve of ground coffee into it and turned to glance at Miles.

He watched her carefully, clearly paranoid but not overly
concerned as yet.

Zahra let her gaze flicker for a brief second to Rob,
silently willing him to do anything to divert Miles. She only needed a few
seconds, but it had to be now, while she could mix the herbs with the ground
coffee beans. She wouldn’t get a better opportunity than this.

Rob seemed to be following her equally carefully, and the
brief clash of their gazes spurred him into action.

“Are you all right over there, Grant? That bruise is
swelling and turning nasty. Maybe we should have Zahra look at it, what do you
think?”

The sound of Rob’s voice breaking the silence succeeded in
capturing Miles’s attention. He swung around for only a moment, but that was
all she needed. In seconds she had plucked a pinch of flaxseed, then collected
another pinch of seeds from the Californian poppy. Channeling all her fear,
rage and feelings of impotence into her incantation, she zapped the seeds with
a brief flare of magical energy.

Her fingers tingled and pulsed with the power. She brought
out the full potential of the seeds, magnifying their power to the maximum. It
was a crude, simplistic ritual with all the grace of a sledgehammer. A part of
her mind hoped she hadn’t gone too far overboard. She’d have a hell of a lot of
explaining to do if she killed Miles instead of just put him out of action for
a while.

Her aim was to sedate him and mess with his bowels. Puking
or crouching over the toilet while woozy and unfocused would be more than
enough for them to escape and hand him over to the Enforcers for a proper trial
and facing the ramifications of his actions. Zahra didn’t want to live with the
guilt or stain of killing a wizard on her hands or soul.

She released them into the dark coffee grinds and shook the
plunger so they were hidden from sight. As casually as she could manage, she
then lifted the kettle once again and poured the boiled water in up to the top.

“Shut up,” Miles insisted angrily. “You’re all going to die,
what the fuck do a few bruises matter?”

Even with her back turned, Zahra could feel the intense heat
of Miles’s gaze return to her back as she put down the kettle and closed the
lid, lifting and depressing the plunger to start the mixture steeping. Her
heart hammered in her chest and sweat continued to slide down her spine.

“Put that here,” Miles snapped. “And keep your hands where I
can see them, sitting here like you promised.”

Zahra picked up her mug in one hand and the coffee in the
other. She placed the plunger in front of Miles and sat down with her tea. As
she shifted in her chair she once again caught Rob’s dark-green gaze with hers.
With an infinitesimally small nod she indicated she’d got what she needed
accomplished.

Her throat dry, her head aching from the strain, she hoped
the few minutes the coffee would need to steep would pass quickly. Each second
seemed to trickle past almost unbearably slowly.

Blowing on her tea, she took a tiny sip and tried to think
of something that would open up a new discussion. Once again she hoped to
distract Miles without arousing suspicion.

“How long have you been a part of this group?” she asked.
Miles’s gaze flickered from her hands to his coffee then back to her face. He
grinned, clearly relishing the chance to finally discuss his success.

“When I started to rise within the consultancy, and my
subsequently being noticed by Grant, I was approached,” Miles boasted. Zahra
took another sip of her tea and struggled to not glance out the windows in the
vain hope of catching sight of Ben or Layla.

What the hell was taking them both so long? It had to have
been ten minutes since they’d arrived. What was keeping them?

“So your interest in me, your friendship and mentoring from
my father, Tanya was right and it was all just a huge lie?”

“I’d been seeing Britney since long before my fling with
you,” Miles replied with a careless gesture. He poured his coffee into a large
mug, blew lightly on it and took a sip. Panic gripped Zahra as he did so. She
forced herself to not change expression, lift her mug and take another sip of
her tea. Miles made a face and she nearly jumped out of her skin, stricken by
the thought he must be able to taste the flaxseed or perhaps the poppy seeds.
He waved a hand in front of his mouth, indicating it was hot. Zahra swallowed
hard and took another sip, refusing to let her fear get the best of her.

“Actually it was my true mentor’s suggestion that I get in
nice with you, play sweet little romantic interlude.” Miles spoke as he took
another few sips from his mug. “My connection with Grant was integral to our
plans. Once I hooked up with you, though, could hang around the house a lot
more without arousing too much suspicion. That led to me being far more
involved with Grant’s other contacts and start building my own network. Nobody
lost.”

“Right,” she replied wryly. A part of her hated that she’d
been used and discarded so casually, but she kept the larger picture in mind.
Seeming to sense she’d been just keeping him talking, taking another mouthful,
he swallowed before waving a hand to another chair near where her father sat.

“Go on, I think you’ve settled your nerves enough. I’m not
going to sit here spilling my guts and talking about our true agenda, even if
the three of you are dead wizards.”

“But I’m really interested in—” Miles struck his hand
through the air in a slicing motion, cutting her off in a harsh tone.

“No more distracting me,” he insisted. “Go sit over there or
I’ll blast you right here.”

Shaking, Zahra stood up but held her ground. Tilting her
chin up to his in the attempt to hide her fear and desperation, she held Miles’s
gaze.

“By killing the three of us you’re merely going to draw more
questions and suspicion onto yourself,” she said. “Don’t you think everyone
will find it unbelievable that a week after Tanya’s car accident both my father
and I die mysteriously?”

“I’m not some fool,” Miles ground out. He cringed and rested
a hand on his stomach for a moment, pain flickering over his face. It passed as
quickly as it occurred and he seemed to dismiss it.

“It will be easy to set up. I’ll make it look as if Grant
caught you and Rob together, and in a rage for your immorality coupled with his
rage at Rob—already a disgraced wizard with no reputation—for taking advantage
of you he killed you both, and then in self-disgust committed suicide. Really,
it’s one of the oldest stories in the book when you think about it. Grant’s
disdain of Rob is well documented, and after all, Tanya was the one to press
charges against him. I’ll hardly need to do more than point the Enforcers
looking into it in the right direction. The script practically writes itself.”