Read Online 1 Witchy Business by Eve Paludan, Stuart Sharp - Free Book Online Page A

staff?”
    “Implicitly.” There was no hesitation before the reply. Just certainty. “Why? Do you have anything that might link one of them to the crime?”
    I shook my head. “No, but it’s important not to rule out any possibility until there is a reason to.”
    “And if I were to assure you that I know none of them would steal from me?”
    I smiled. “I’d like to think that they wouldn’t, but there is often more to people than there seems to be. Something you know, I think.”
    “Oh?” Niall raised one perfect eyebrow.
    “With your art collection.” I looked around. I’d seen the theme the first time I was here, but it was only after spending some time in the room that it was obvious how deep it went. “Is there anything in here without a hidden meaning or a secret picture within a picture?”
    Niall spread his hands. “It is a theme I enjoy. The duality of things hidden, but put on display. It is intriguing for me to have every piece of art I own speak of some secret, some longing, or some hidden emotion. The truth is that, for those able to see, like you and me, there are no secrets, Elle.”
    I could have left it there. Perhaps I should have left it there, but I could feel the sense of challenge coming off Niall Sampson in that moment. If I didn’t say anything, then I would have failed some kind of test. It was a test I didn’t know the rules for, only that it was a test, and that somehow, it mattered to me. Why did it matter to me? Rebecca and Evert wouldn’t be watching him without a reason, so why did I care what he thought? Even so…I most certainly cared what he thought.
    “You know what I am, don’t you?” I asked, going for broke.
    This time, Niall did pause. “Probably better than you do. But you’re asking if I know about the coven. About witches and what they can do. Yes, I know, Elle. I know everything they can do. I’m what you would call a warlock, I believe.”
    I felt it then. The faintest brush of another set of powers. One that felt so strange for a moment, until I realized that it was almost identical to my own.
    “Wait a minute. You…you’re an enchanter? How did I miss that?”
    “That’s the word they use?” Niall stood there, letting that hang in the air. “I am what I am, Elle. Just me. Always just me.”
    What did that mean? If Niall didn’t know the fine details of how the coven ran, did that mean he’d never had contact with them? Or did he simply not recognize their authority? Was he not connected to the coven? That would be rare, but it certainly happened. After all, we lived in a world where the magical and inexplicable were pushed underground. The coven didn’t find every witch who came into power.
     Staying outside was possible, too, more so for warlocks than for witches, who were more expected to adhere to standards of the coven. The coven wasn’t a monolithic entity, but we had to stay within its limits. Was that why Rebecca and Evert were watching him? Because he wasn’t a part of the nebulous network that fell under the coven’s control? Because he was too wild or too dangerous?
    It was kind of difficult to think of Niall as wild and untamed. Nothing about him was anything less than perfect. Controlled. But that would make sense, wouldn’t it, if he were like me?
    “Do you have all the information you need?” Niall asked me. “For your investigation, I mean?”
    “My investigation?” After what he’d just told me, it was hard even to take that in. I forced myself to get a grip, taking a deep breath. The fact that I’d found someone else like me, the only other person like me who I’d ever met, didn’t change things. “Yes. I’ve got everything I need. For now.”
    “Then, why don’t you let me take you to dinner?” Niall suggested.
    Who was I kidding? It changed things completely. If it didn’t, I would have said no there and then. I knew I shouldn’t accept. It would have been deeply unprofessional at the best of times, and