Hale nodded. “And news always gets out.”
“Yeah,” Kat said. “So Agent Bennett came to me.”
“And your first thought was me?” he snapped. “You thought I did it.”
“No! Hale, I didn’t…I didn’t know. I just thought you might know something. And I thought you’d want in.”
Hale eyed her. “In on what?”
Kat couldn’t help but smile. “Tracking down whoever stole the egg and stealing it back.”
Ten Days Before the Auction
London, England
The office of the Magi Miracle Network was not particularly impressive. Located near the Thames, the big office building was nondescript. The suite of rooms on the twelfth floor had a view of the back of the building behind it. The small room in which Kat and Hale had been asked to wait had two chairs that were too hard, a long sofa that was too soft, and a collection of magazines six months out of date. Whatever money the charity had did not go toward overhead, Kat could tell. There was a Christmas tree in the corner, and stockings lined one wall, but they didn’t feel seasonal. No, Kat got the sense that, in here, it was always Christmas.
Black and white photos filled the room. Smiling faces and laughing children, presents of every shape and size. Some were new, but as Kat walked along the perimeter of the room it was like she was walking back in time as fashions changed and hairstyles morphed, but Christmas was always Christmas, no matter the decade.
The children never seemed to change, but the woman in the photos got younger and younger with every step that Kat took.
When Kat felt a presence at her back, she wasn’t surprised to hear Hale say, “Hazel.”
Kat had never known either of her grandmothers, and her own mother had passed away far too soon. So Kat knew well the ache that comes from knowing you’ll never be “mothered,” ever again. She recognized it as soon as she turned and looked up into Hale’s eyes.
“I cannot wait to catch this guy,” Hale said, and there was something in his tone that made Kat weary.
“You want to catch him so we can turn him over to Agent Bennett, right?”
Hale pulled away.
“Something like that.”
“Hale you can’t—”
“Mr. Hale?”
At the sound of the voice, they turned. Kat was glad of it. It was neither the time nor the place to fight. She knew how she would feel if she were in Hale’s shoes, but she also knew the smart thing to do, and that was to feel nothing.
“Thank you for coming.”
The woman was tall with long red hair and big brown eyes. But she was dressed all in black and her eyes looked like she had been crying. For a moment, Kat actually wondered if she had just come from a funeral, but then she realized that the Magi Miracle Network was simply mourning what might have been. It was a feeling Kat knew well.
“I’m Elizabeth Evans,” the woman said. “The director of the Magi Miracle Network. It’s so nice to meet you. I wish… I wish it were under better circumstances.” She wore dark-rimmed glasses and slid them up her nose. Kat thought she might be about to wipe a tear from her eye, but none fell. “I can’t imagine what you think of me.”
That was when she glanced past Hale, to the photos on the wall behind him.
“I know this must be very hard for you, Mr. Hale,” she said. “Your grandmother was a wonderful woman, and she was always so supportive and involved, and… When I realized what had happened, I… I didn’t know what to do. It could ruin us. Not just the money—though it is a lot of money. This donation—the auction—they were going to bring an unprecedented amount of publicity to our cause.” For a second, the woman just studied the photograph. When she spoke again, her voice was soft. “I suppose we should be careful what we wish for.”
“I know what you mean,” Hale said and the director smiled.
“I met her, you know? Not long before she…passed. I met her. And it was something I’ll never forget. She had a kind of light around her. It sounds silly, I know, but that was how it felt.”
“No,” Hale said. “You’re right. Hazel glowed. She always did.”
For a moment the woman smiled, happy in the memory, but then the sadness returned. “A part of me is happy that she’s gone—that she won’t see this. She’d be so ashamed of me. You should be ashamed of me.”
Hale gave her his most charming smile. It wasn’t necessarily important for this woman to like him—trust him. But they did need her help, and women who are half in love with W. W. Hale V had a tendency to be very helpful indeed.
Besides, Hazel must have liked her. And so Hale wanted to return the favor.
“We’re just happy to be able to help.”
When Ms. Evans heard the word “we” it was like she finally realized that Hale was not alone.
“Hi,” Kat said.
She could practically read the woman’s mind. Though it was quick, her eyes darted over Kat’s small body, her line-free skin. There had been many occasions when looking like the smaller-than-average teenage girl that she was had worked to Kat’s advantage.
And then there were times like this.
“You’re Amelia’s friend?”
“Something like that,” Kat said, honestly not sure how else to answer.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said with a wave of her hand. Pink filled her cheeks, and Kat knew she was embarrassed. To have misjudged her friend’s friends. To need their help at all.