Cordelia frowned at her. “What?”
“You’re telling me that a man who guards the secrets of the League doesn’t know about factions within the League until an anthropologist in Louisiana writes Akako Hiyashi an email?” Jillian scoffed. “He’s the head of strategic projects and he needed my people to figure it out for him? What’s more strategic than sneakily undermining the League from within and staging some sort of coup that would essentially equal world domination once the whole ‘if everybody’s magique, no one will care’ plan is complete. I don’t trust him. He seems far too dominating and ego-driven to be content working as part of a hierarchy instead of being its leader…and in short, I think he is a bad man.”
Cordelia sank back into her chair. Great, new disturbing information to process. If Darwin Messina was the root of all the troubles in Mystic Bayou, and Alex was his right hand, how involved was Alex in these evil world-domination plans? She thought back to that sweet boy she’d known and the idea that he could be setting out to hurt people for his own gain broke her heart.
Of course, he could also be totally ignorant of what Messina was doing. It was unlikely, but she was willing to cling to the idea…unless, of course, he was the one who told Messina to use Bernadette as leverage against her.
Her head hurt.
“Thinking it is one thing,” Brendan noted. “Do you have any evidence of your suspicions? You can’t go to Akako Hiyashi with ‘he’s a bad man.’ Even if I do think you are entirely correct.”
“Well, to be honest, we’ve had these suspicions for a while. But your information shows that I’m not just resentful of getting unceremoniously booted out of my office. That’s the real reason Sonja and I have been bunking up together in here,” Jillian said. “We’ve been researching Messina and any connections he may have had with the people who have been causing our problems over the last few years.”
“Like what?” Cordelia asked.
“Like, Cole Lydon—the traitor who used League resources to pull the artifact out of the swamp for nefarious purposes,” Jillian said.
“And almost killed me,” Sonja added.
“And almost killed Sonja,” Jillian agreed. “He was an intern for Messina’s office, which is weird, because in general, the office of strategic projects doesn’t take on interns. But Messina justified taking him on by stating that he and Lydon’s dad were old family friends. Or the fact that Karen, the telekinetic that Lydon used to unearth the artifact? She was a freelance consultant on a project Messina oversaw about twenty years ago. Or Lara, my psycho-assistant who went all murder-y on Dani? She went to the same college Messina did. She was hired through some sort of alumni outreach program he’d orchestrated. It’s just a lot of vague connections like that. We don’t have anything concrete yet, but that seems like a lot of coincidences, enough that we were already planning to find some sneaky secret way to contact Akako and talk to her about it, without pinging any sort of internal alarms Messina has set up. Now, I think we’re just going to move up our timeline.”
“That’s all well and good and I wish you the best of luck,” said Brendan. “Meanwhile, what can you do for Cordelia? I don’t want her too scared to look out her window or walk down the street.”
Jillian gave him a fond little smile. “First, we’re going to get a lock on your mother’s location, to put your mind at ease. We will put the full force of Sonja’s powers on the case. She’ll be able to tell you where your mother is down to what she put in her coffee that morning.”
Sonja was typing on her smartphone, her fingers an elegant blur over the glass. “I’ve already got it.”
“But it’s only been thirty seconds,” said Cordelia.
Sonja nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got it.”
“You don’t even know her aliases!” Cordelia exclaimed. “She has many, many aliases.”
“Your mom has been renting various apartments on the outskirts of Candella, Florida, for the last eight years,” Sonja said. “She hasn’t filed taxes since 2000. Her credit score…wow, I didn’t know it went into the double digits. Yikes. She has two felony warrants out for her arrest for forgery and one for fraud. And that might explain why she’s on the move. Her last credit card activity was at a gas station near Jacksonville two weeks ago, but after that, she sort of drops off the radar.”
“If she comes into a big cash score, she’ll lay off the credit cards for a while,” said Cordelia. “Then again, I doubt she’s limiting herself to credit cards in her name. She could have easily made it here from Jacksonville by now. So in reality, she might be nearby and I wouldn’t know it.”
“Give me a little more time and I’ll narrow down her location,” Sonja said.
“But just to be safe, I’d like you to go and talk to Bael,” said Jillian. “Historically, we’ve let too many problems escalate by not communicating our concerns openly. So you’re going to go and let him to know to watch out for suspicious characters. Sonja will email him a picture of your mom’s ID.”
“Already done,” Sonja said, waggling her phone. “What about the League security personnel?”
Jillian blew out a long breath, considering. “The guys Messina brought with him? We don’t know if we can trust them. But the guards at the rift site, the people who have been here for a while? Yes, we tell them, but we ask them to keep it to themselves. It’s probably limiting ourselves to the point of foolishness, but I think we need to be cautious for now.”
Sonja nodded. “Meanwhile, I’ll put alerts on your mom’s accounts and her known cell phone to let me know if she moves towards us. Maybe I can arrange for her to be arrested before she gets to the state line.”
“I think I’ve learned not to underestimate you,” Cordelia said.
“I happen to know Bael has a fairly open afternoon, if you wouldn’t mind going across the street now to talk to him,” Jillian said.
Cordelia stood from her chair, prompting Brendan to mirror her. “Right now.”
“And if you’re not doing anything this weekend, we’re putting together decorations and favors for Jillian’s baby shower,” Sonja suggested. “And Dani’s making something involving pork chops and apples.”
Cordelia’s expression softened. It wasn’t just that they were thinking to include her. It was that these women were still optimistic enough and grounded in their families to plan a shower while secretly plotting to take down a potentially corrupt League official. They could do both with equal enthusiasm.
“I know it’s kind of tacky for me to be involved, but the things Sonja has put together are so dang cute, I can’t stay away,” Jillian said.
“I’ll be there,” Cordelia promised. “Let me know if I can bring anything.”
They said their goodbyes and Brendan walked her across the square to the door of the parish hall. He curved his body around hers, as if he could shield her from Messina’s threats, her potential madness, and her mother. Cordelia was tense, scanning the street as if her mother was going to spring out from behind the community mailbox. “If it’s all right with you, I’m gonna go by the grocery store. I’ll make you some dinner tonight. I know you don’t need more people telling you what to do, but I don’t think you should be alone.”