Marriage is Murder

Jim stopped and walked back to Brian he heard the name and sighed as Arch flew to the dumpster. walking over he saw the fur and nodded to Robert " of course " he said and headed to sparks to talk to Lizzie.

Returning he spoke to Robert again " its done and I'll stay to help out, I am manager after all " he sent a message to Steven and jack who immediately appeared Jack held his nose at the smell.

" smell of death not good " he said as Steven shook his head and spoke to Robert.

" clean up duty I take it" he said a Jack began to clean up best he could. Steven finished making double sure nothing and not one sign was left.

"Thank you," Robert said to Jim. He left Sparks in Jim's hands. He was relieved when Jim and Steven arrived. "Thank you. I know this is not one of the better duties that you do. But I do appreciate it. When you get the body out, do please go over the alley again and see what you can find. Lets not miss anything."

"You two need any help?" Brian asked. "He wasn't sure he'd found all her belongings. Most women carried more than a cloak and a wallet. He was wondering where her wand was. Either she'd dropped it, and he was missing it, or the murderer had taken it in conquest. "I'm not convinced we found everything yet. We need to check again. I find no purse, no wand. Its still not right."

Jack looked at Brian and nodded " if you want to stay and help and your right they carry more than a wallet and cloak" he added and then walked the alley slowly walking down each side sniffing the air " damn all I get is wet dog" he said softly. Steven had more luck as he kicked a stone and it hit something shinny.

"Hey over here Brian I think I found her bag " he called not touching it so Brian could find it as he had. Steven stepped back leaning on a door frame as he did Jack staid at one end of the alley leaving it guarded so nothing could sneak up on them while they searched.

"Oh, good. Well done," Brian said.  He went over and saw the purse. A fairly large tapestry purse. He opened it and went through it.  Things appeared to be relatively intact. Why the wallet had been removed, he wasn't sure. And where was the wand?

"Accio!" he attempted to summon the wand, but it did not respond.  "It must not be here," he told them.  "They must have taken it.  

Robert caught up with them. "Jack, can you and Steven secure the back door to keep any dark arts practioner from coming in there. And then at sunset, come pack and be absolutely certain that the place is locked up, completely secured with protection spells, and that every staff member gets home safely and has shields around their home as well?"

Khaat had been sitting at home, drinking a cup of French roast.  She had poured an additional cup because she was getting a headache. She was hoping the caffeine would help her stop the pounding.  She closed her eyes and began to see a vision. It was faint. It didn't have much energy. It was barely there. But if she strained, she could see enough of the faint image and hear enough that she could make some limited sense of it.

Jack looked back and nodded " been done" he said and staid his position. Steven joined him and looked around his eyes picking up on people passing close by but none making any move towards them. Cassidy sat and watched Khaat she frowned a little as she saw Khaat face.

" um..you okay?" she asked knowing something wasn't right. Standing she moved to get Kate " Kate I think Khaat's seeing something, or trying to" she told her as she stood looking back to Khaat.

"Thank you," Robert said. "When you're all done, then you can head home, I suppose, if you think the place is secured. You might check with him to be sure that he has this under control. That way he knows that we don't leave without letting him know."

"Is she?" Kate asked. "I'm surprised that her magic works anywhere near that well for her to see anything at all. Evidently she must have a little bit that works, then." She went into the living room and saw Khaat simply sitting still, her eyes closed, the coffee cup still in her hand. Kate took the cup and set it aside. There was little she could do at the moment but simply let her see or hear whatever it was.

"Belby," Kate said quietly. "Be sure she doesn't simply apparate out without you. That can happen."

"Good to know" Belby said, going over to simply sit within arm's reach of her.

Cassidy sat looking she saw Marcus move closer to her and bit her lip " you'd have to be very quick shes a quick porter when she wants to be , even we can't catcher and Brian himself has barely caught her when she ports out" Cassidy told him knowing he had only just caught her the last time she ported.

Jack nodded and glanced to Steven who was looking around the ally again he made doubly sure they had not over looked anything . Finding it clear he moved to Jack and nodded. " its all clear Robert " he said " we'll head back home now" he looked at Jack who sniffed and nodded leaving for home.

Cassidy was glad when Steven came back but she was surprised when he walked over and hugged her , she returned his hug with her own.

"Ah," Marcus said, "That does help. I can be quick, but I can be quicker if I know what I'm up against." He took her good hand to keep her from porting without him.

"You haven't worked with many seers, have you?" Kate asked.

"The seers I worked with didn't specialize this way. They were old men who specialized in divination. They were pretty tied to their divining things."

"And less reactive," Kate said.

"Indeed. I have some things to learn, then," Marcus said, seeing even more that he was now working for a much younger, impulsive client, and actually, he did like the challenge.

It didn't take more than another moment for Khaat's vision to end. She jumped, startled. Marcus didn't want her to port out away from him so he wrapped his arm around her shoulder when she sat forward.
She wasn't even quite sure who was there at first, but she folded into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her.

As much as he wanted to be the professional she needed, his own thoughts were momentarily distracted by the scent of her floral shampoo, the feel of her soft hair and her soft skin against his, and the intoxicating perfume she wore. He hadn't noticed that yesterday on the train tracks. He noticed today. It certainly was a definite improvement from the antibacterial soap, old aftershave, and cigar smoke he had been surrounded with so continuously.

He gave her a moment. He looked at her, looked truly into her eyes and said, "Where are we going?"

She took a moment to gather herself and said. "I'm not entirely sure. Maybe Knockturn."

"Do we need to go today?" he asked.

"I...don't know," she said.

"Then let's not go until we know. Let's not walk into a trap again, huh?" he asked. She paused and then she nodded. He picked up her coffee mug again and offered it to her. She took it, and he simply sat with her to reassure her.

Cassidy looked at them and listened when knockturn was mentioned she shook her head " ow no way " she told Marcus , that's a bad place" she moved to stand with Kate " why would you go there except for bad things " she made her displeasure noted at that idea. Jack walked in and heard Knockturn and walked in.

“she’s right that's not the best place for you to go injured and low on magic" Jack said softly he said no more knowing that Khaat knew her own mind and if she was going to go she would and nothing would change that he had found that out the hard way several times before even Steven knew better than to tangle with Khaat or Kate. “Besides with what happened earlier your best to stay here?” He added without thinking.

"Drink your coffee," Marcus told her quietly. "If you don't know if you need to go, we'll wait. You don't need to be hanging out with that lot today." He looked at the others, understanding their concern. "She can't go without me, anyway. Not without risk of perhaps splinching."

"You know," Kate said, "if there is something that can help your father with that emergency call that they went out on awhile ago...."

"No," she said. "There isn't enough. I don't have enough magic right now to get much of anything but a few faded images. There isn't enough to make any sense."

"Then you definitely don't need to get involved in a wild goose chase."

"I didn't say I was going," Khaat said. "I simply said that was where I thought I would need to go if I did go out. I wasn't sure."

"No pressure," Marcus reassured her. Then he smiled, "We'll go chase the dark wizards tomorrow, okay? We won't let them go far." She saw the humor in his smile. He was merely trying to make light of it. He wasn't at all serious about them chasing anyone tomorrow and she knew it.

"Sure," she said, just going along with it. "Tomorrow, then."

Michael arrived back in the kitchen finally, home from the market and a couple of other errands. "Groceries!" he called to those who he'd bought things for.