Ironic silence followed that suggestion.
“To clarify,” Catcher said. “There’s a voice powerful enough to drive humans literally crazy. And Merit thinks we should tune in to it.”
But I kept my gaze on Mallory, watched the interest spark in her eyes.
“If we heard it, we’d learn more about it.” She nodded. “Maybe try to figure out where it was coming from—or who.”
“That’s the idea,” I said.
“Could it be done?” Ethan asked.
“It’s certainly possible,” she said. “It’s magical in origin, so theoretically we should be able to use magic to listen in. But I’d have to work out the details, get my kit together. That will take time. This isn’t OTC magic.”
“Over the counter?” Ethan asked.
“I was thinking ‘off the cuff,’” Mallory said with a smile, “but I like yours, too.”
“How much time will you need?” Ethan asked.
“Couple of hours, maybe.” Mallory grinned. “I suspect you newlyweds can occupy yourselves in the meantime.”
“I bet we can,” I said. But the gleam in my eye wasn’t romantic. It was strategic. “I want to break into Sorcha’s house.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
B TO THE E
“You’re just full of interesting plans tonight,” Catcher said. But I kept my gaze on Ethan, watching emotions and considerations move across his face.
“She has to have a workroom, an office,” I said. “A place where she preps her magic. I want to see it. Maybe we’ll find something that explains what the hell is happening in Chicago.”
“And maybe we won’t,” Ethan said, “and we’ll be arrested for breaking and entering.” He looked at Catcher. “Didn’t you look through the house after she was arrested?”
“We were allotted ten minutes by the crime scene folks,” Catcher said, voice as dry as toast. “That didn’t give us time to get through the entire house—just the center wing.”
“And we didn’t get anything out of that,” Mallory said, “other than a sense of their atrocious taste.”
She had it right. There wasn’t much in the Reed house that hadn’t been covered in screaming red velvet or gleaming gilt, every nook filled with furniture and statuary.
“Can we even get in?” Ethan asked.
“Reed’s estate is in probate,” Catcher said, running fingers over his shorn hair. “Since Sorcha’s accused of his murder and is still on the lam, the house is being monitored by a security outfit hired by the executor.”
; I looked at Claudia, considered the glow of her skin, her new green-land visitation rights. “You’ve been affected by that magic.”
She didn’t bother to look at me, but kept her gaze on Mallory. “My tower is magicked; it’s how I stay here, and alive. I suspect it has absorbed that power, and I have reaped the benefits.”
“And the delusions?” Ethan asked.