Page 70 of Midnight Witch

“Don’t do it,” Violet warned.

“What Enrique doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” the parrot said confidently.

He’d just leaned over to steal some nuts when his sorcerer walked back into the room.

Cortes stopped and narrowed his eyes. “You like living on the edge, don’t you?”

Popo dropped his spoils guiltily.

“You’re an idiot,” Violet told the parrot.

“The Medellin coven has found someone with knowledge of Raya’s entourage at the time she was growing her support in secret to try and take over my family’s territory,” Cortes reported in a hard voice. “The guy moved from the city ten years ago. They’re tracking him down right now. We should have a list of names in a few hours.”

Mae’s stomach churned. She could tell Vlad and Nikolai had just had the same thought from their darkening faces. They were running out of time to locate the church.

But the list, when it finally came, turned out to be an obituary.

Mae stared at the names Cortes had penned out on a piece of paper.

“They’re all dead?” she repeated numbly.

“I’m sorry.” Cortes ran a hand through his hair, his brow furrowed and a muscle ticking in his cheek. “It looks like Raya had a clean-up right after she tried to kill me. She probably didn’t want to leave any witnesses behind.”

Vlad cursed.

Mae’s heart sank. She’d been banking on the insight of the person who’d conjured up the Illusion Sorcery that had aided Raya in defeating Cortes to help locate Anya.

Alicia lowered her brows. “But didn’t you say you thought the person who helped Raya with that magic undid it without her knowing? That means someone got away, doesn’t it?”

Mae’s pulse quickened. She met Cortes’s startled gaze. “She’s right.”

Nikolai studied the obituary with narrowed eyes. “One of them must have faked their death.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried something like that,” Cortes grunted.

Violet chewed her lip and looked over at Jared. “Should we tell you-know-who to run that list through his database?”

Mae stared. “Who the heck is you-know-who?”

Violet hesitated. “A friend of our allies in Chicago.”

Jared’s mouth flattened into a thin line. “Do you mean the idiot on the West Coast or the one in the Czech Republic?”

The witch shrugged. “Either.” She looked at the clock. “Howard should be up.”

Miles blinked. “Why do you know Howard’s timetable?”

Violet flushed and avoided his gaze. “Because we’re friends.”

Suspicion narrowed Miles’s eyes. “You’re not cheating on Erik, are you?”

“No,” Violet protested. She turned to Jared. “Call Howard.”

“That’s assuming that playboy didn’t go to some glitzy party last night and isn’t in bed with a woman,” Jared scoffed.

Violet sighed. “Just call him.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Alicia said.

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