Page 17 of Shadow Dreaming

“Well, we have some idea of the vehicle, at least,” I said, trying to calm down.

“Try not to panic. I know it’s hard, but you have to remain calm if you want to help Penn,” Dante said. He made a left onto 167th Street and we pulled up in front of my house. There were already two cop cars there. I jumped out and raced over to the officers.

“Are you the owner of this house?” The officer’s nametag read Rush, and he had a serious look on his face.

I nodded. “Yes, this is my house. I’m Kyann Sarasan, and I share the house with Penelope Fircrest. She’s my best friend. She’s been kidnapped. I have it right here on the security camera.”

The officer looked at the open door. “We’ll need to secure the house first and make sure nobody’s inside. Please wait out here.”

“My cats are in there, they’re indoor onlies. Can you please shut the door, in case they haven’t escaped yet?” I didn’t need yet another stressor on my mind.

“We can do that, Ma’am,” he said. He and the other officer proceeded toward the house, guns out. I moved over to a bench in the front yard and, wiping the water off of it with the sleeve of my jacket, I sat on the edge, my stomach in knots. Dante stood beside me, and Orik pulled up and joined us.

“Who do you think they were?” Dante asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Their faces were covered. They looked like men, though.”

I fell silent again, glancing around the yard, hoping that both Jangles and Murdoch were still inside. Orik and Dante steadfastly stood by my side.

After a few moments, the officers peeked out, motioning for us to come in.

Please make certain you don’t touch anything. We need to dust for fingerprints.”

“I doubt you’ll find any,” I said. “I have security cameras and they caught it on film. The men were wearing gloves.” I showed them the video clips.

“You’re right about the gloves,” Officer Harrington said. She was a coyote shifter, with gaunt cheeks and glowing amber eyes. Coyote shifters had a certain sneaky energy to them, though it wasn’t necessarily malign. And that energy was splashing off her in all directions.

Harrington asked, “Have you seen Ms. Fircrest today?”

“Yes, this morning at breakfast,” I said. “I left the house before she did.” I looked around. “Did you find the cats?”

“They’re in the kitchen, and we shut them in the pantry, so they don’t rush the door. Tell us about your roommate.”

“Her name is Penelope Fircrest—Penn for short. She’s a witch and she’s part Fae. She runs an online magical shop, and she also works for me on occasion. I run the Shadow Blade Investigation Agency, along with my business partner. This is Dante Franco,” I introduced them. “And one of our investigators, Orik Valhom.”

“Do you know of any reason why someone might want to kidnap Ms. Fircrest?” Rush asked.

I nodded. “I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“Can you elaborate?”

I wasn’t sure how much to say, but finally said, “Penelope also works for PortalWatch. You might want to talk to the Crystal Court.”

The cops knew of PortalWatch, though I wasn’t sure how familiar the individual officers were about it.

“A car is still in your driveway.” They described Penn’s car and I nodded.

“That’s hers. But I also have footage of the van the kidnappers used. They blanked out the license plate, though, so they came prepared.” I wanted to head out, to run off looking for her.

Officer Harrington was watching me closely. “You can’t do anything in this moment. Please text me the security footage. You might want to check with the security company as to why we didn’t get an alarm notification when they broke in. Here’s my number.”

“My guess is that, because she was home, Penn hadn’t armed the unit. While you watch the footage, I’m going to check on my cats,” I said. “I won’t touch anything?—”

“Given they were wearing gloves, it doesn’t matter,” Rush said, glancing at the first clip. “They were obviously wearing gloves. There aren’t going to be any prints.”

I headed into the kitchen and peeked in the pantry. There, Murdoch and Jangles were curled up on a spare tea towel they had found on a shelf, looking scared.

“Hey, guys, I’m sorry,” I knelt down and gently scritched them beneath their chins. “I’m sorry you were scared, but I’m so relieved you’re okay.”

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