Wickedly Dangerous (Baba Yaga, #1)(58)
Liam took her glowing hand, not without some trepidation, and aimed the light downward toward the file cabinets underneath the map. The drawers were as neatly labeled as the chart above, and he pulled open the one with a large red dot on it first. He got a sinking feeling as he perused the names on the folders within.
“Shit,” he whispered, sliding the drawer shut again.
“What’s the matter?” Baba asked, glancing around with concern. “Did you hear something?”
He shook his head, then had to push his damned hair out of his face again. “No, nothing like that,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see that so many of the folks who’ve signed drilling leases live near me. Truth is, according to these, my property is pretty much surrounded. If the county votes down the drilling moratorium, I’m screwed.”
He was a little surprised to realize how much he cared. He never talked about it to anyone. Most days, he even managed not to think about it for whole hours at a time. The house had mostly been just a place to sleep and occasionally eat since the baby died and Melissa left. If you’d asked him yesterday, he would have said it could burn to the ground for all he cared. Apparently, that wasn’t quite true. He ground his teeth together, thinking this was a damned inconvenient time for his heart to finally come back to life again.
Baba’s slender hand rested gently on his shoulder for a moment. “Sorry,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll find something to stop them.”
Liam nodded wordlessly and opened the next drawer. There weren’t quite as many files with blue tags on them, but there were enough to be heartening. His own name was written clearly on a label that sat between Landry, Frank and Meadows, Charles and Felicia. He’d said “no” loud and clear from the first time one of Callahan’s flunkies had come knocking on the door. In fact, it was distinctly possible he’d said, “HELL, no.”
The yellow-tagged drawer was next, and it was considerably more revealing. Liam cursed under his breath.
“What?” Baba asked. “More people who own property near yours?”
“Worse,” he said through clenched teeth. “These are folks who want to say no, but Callahan has found ways that he thinks they can be persuaded.” He pointed at a file labeled “Johnson, Clara.”
“See this one? Clara is a widow, whose husband died suddenly last year with no life insurance and a pile of debt. It says here that her kids are pressuring her to sell and move into a nursing home.” He flicked another file open. “This one is the Mulligans. They’re in the middle of an ugly divorce. Callahan has apparently convinced the husband to sign the lease, and is helping him out with an expensive lawyer so he can get an advantage in the court battle.”
“Nasty,” Baba said, looking more disgusted than shocked. “Are they all like that, the yellow ones?”
Liam riffled through a few more. “Pretty much, although some are more sneaky than vicious. Here’s one where a couple wants to retire to a warmer climate. Callahan apparently paid their real estate agent to convince them that their property will be worth more with a signed drilling lease in place.” He shoved the drawer shut, stopping it from slamming at the last minute. “But the files all look like they’re full of actions that are at the very least morally repugnant, if not out-and-out illegal.”
Baba’s eyes got that odd fierce glow, as if they’d been lit from within. Liam tried to tell himself that it was just a reflection from her magical light, and not a sign that she was thinking of ripping certain people apart with her bare hands. Then he tried to convince himself he thought that would be a bad thing. He wasn’t notably successful in either case.
Truth be told, he was having a hard time reining in his own temper. The more deeply they delved into Callahan’s dirty dealings, the harder it was to remember that he was supposed to uphold the law, no matter what his own personal feelings in the matter. And he had a sinking feeling that the remaining drawer was going to make that even more difficult. The sound of his own harsh breathing echoed in his ears like a dirge as he tugged open the green dotted drawer.
“Huh,” he said, a few minutes later. “That’s curious.” He hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but what he’d found hadn’t even been on the list.
Baba peered over his shoulder as he knelt in front of the low drawer. “Hey,” she said with surprise, “I recognize a few of these names.” She pointed one slim finger at a file. “Look, there’s Belinda. And isn’t that one of the other families whose child went missing?”
Liam could feel his face set into grim lines as his heart clenched. “They’re all in there, Barbara. Maybe that’s a coincidence, but if so, it’s a pretty big one.”
“Well, their names could have been added to the ‘vulnerable’ list after the disappearances,” Baba said, voice uncertain. “There’s no proof that says otherwise.”
“That’s true,” Liam agreed reluctantly. “On the other hand, I’ve been inundated lately with calls from folks who’ve been experiencing weird issues and problems—sabotage of farm equipment, vanishing workers, strange plagues of mice and snakes—and every single one of those people has a file in this drawer. That can’t possibly be a fluke.”
Baba slitted her eyes, and the light in her palm flickered for a moment from pale white to bloody red before she let out a hissing breath and it returned to what passed as normal for a magical glowing light. “No. No, it isn’t. That’s Maya’s handiwork; I’m sure of it.”