Witch for Hire by N. E. Conneely Read Free Book Online Page A

pen out of my bag, and then I slipped my magic around the twisted piece of metal, leaving the fingerprint alone. I started writing symbols on the rock. There was nothing special about the rock; I had picked it up from one of the paths at the lodge, but then it had been cleaned and blessed. Now, I was writing runes for connection and finding. By tying the spells to the rock, the fingerprint would stay on the evidence, but the spell would know the skin of whoever left it behind. When I was finished, the oils from the pen sank into the rock, becoming a tattoo on its surface over the soft glow it emitted.
    I turned around and handed it to Jones. "It's spelled so the glow will increase as you get closer to the person who matches that print, but it will stop glowing if you are going the wrong way. It will turn from gold to green when you are within five feet of the right person. That spell should last for a while. I'm not sure how long, but more than two weeks for sure."
    "That was cool." He sounded more like himself when he was in awe of magic I'd performed.
    "It was fun." I couldn't avoid smiling. "Did they find any other prints on the device?"  
    "That's the only one so far."
    "Then the cleaning spell was intended to wipe away any identifying biological traces. I'd guess they didn't give the spell enough time to work."
      "Hmm. Makes sense. I'll inform the sheriff after we finish." This man really did love his work. He was grinning just watching me cast a spell he couldn't.
    I was feeling tired, but I needed to remind him of something. "I can't vouch for what this person did. The only thing that magic will do is find the person who left that print."
    "No worries. Investigating is our job."
    I hauled my stuff out of the tent and everyone who'd been waiting for me to move got back to work. The chair outside of the tent provided a convenient place to rest. I was unsure of the time, but very sure that it was raining harder.
    "If you're waiting for me to give you an idea for tracking down the trolls I don't have one." The cheerful Jones was gone, replaced by tired grumpy man.  
    An idea had been simmering since they requested tracking, but it wasn't a spell I'd done before. "I know how to track the trolls, but it won't be fast or easy. I need soil samples from every half mile inside and outside the fence of the preserve, and vials of blood from a few different trolls. Using the soil and very big map of Georgia, I'll make a model. With the blood I can create a spell that will give you an idea of where something with similar blood is located."
    "Back to the office, then?" Jones asked
    "Yup. Did you drive yourself?" I needed to know if we were taking one or two cars back.
    "Yes. I can talk to the sheriff and meet you back at the office, if you want to go ahead." He looked at his watch. "It's eleven-thirty. Why don't you grab us some lunch—"
    "I brought lunch. It's one of Landa's emergency packs."
    He returned my grin. "Bless you child. I'll see you at the office."
    Forty minutes later we were munching through hot stew and chips. Jones looked better, and I knew he'd feel better once the minor healing charm I'd forced on him had a chance to do its work.  
    "Do you know how far a troll could've traveled before finding shelter for the day?" I asked. It wasn't something covered in my troll studies since they've been in preserves all of my life. The trolls would need shelter before daylight or we'd be looking for statuary. "The short ones are six feet tall. That's a long stride."
    "Hum. I'm not sure. Could we start with a small map, and then do something to make them show up on a larger map if they left the area shown on the small map? If one of those 'Free the Trolls' groups were involved, the trolls could've been in a van."
    I don't think of everything. That was the beauty of this job; I could get help without sounding silly. "Very true. I could link two maps. When's the dirt getting here?"
    "I think we have enough time to finish lunch