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The Society of Jacks, A Cozy Urban Fantasy Adventure
Claudia and the Hidden Heart Chapter 4

Claudia and the Hidden Heart Chapter 4

We left the safehouse a few hours later, parting ways and armed with a handful of threads to follow. Maguire and I went with Eric back to his hotel suite to look for signs that he might have been followed. Sarah and Tanya went to check in with some of the local covens to see if any of them had a tracking spell we could borrow, and Lenny slipped off to make contact with his grey market friend.

“Dang Eric, you’ve moved up in the world since we last crossed paths,” I said. “Do you always go for the penthouse, or did they give you an upgrade?”

“I learned at a very young age that it always pays to be nice to the staff. Being famous gives me a unique opportunity to be generous and pay it forward to the communities I visit.”

“That explains why your name sounds so familiar,” Maguire commented. Eric cast a curious look between us.

“He’s from up north,” I explained. “I wouldn’t be too surprised if you’re famous up there for being so nice.”

“Ohhh, okay. Okay. That makes sense. I didn’t realize that was a thing but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“The world is full of surprises. Now, let’s get to work. You talk Maguire through your itinerary and your communications. I'll go over your belongings to see if anyone’s been trying to track you. Between the three of us, we will find something, even if this was random,” I said.

The two boys sat on the couch, huddled around Eric’s laptop. While they started combing through his records, I pulled a pair of gloves and some goggles out of my bag. The gloves were flimsy and off white and by far the most reliable way of determining if an item was being magically monitored. The goggles would make it easier to determine the manner of the monitoring, also if anything had been cursed.

Previous experience taught me that tracking and curses tended to go hand in hand and I didn’t feel like dealing with being wrong. His clothing and older personal belongings showed no sign of being tampered with, at least not with any nefarious reasons. The gloves shifted slightly in hue, indicating a few magical repairs and small enhancements. Nothing worth worrying about.

Then I moved onto some of his newer stuff, most of which sat in shopping bags on the dresser. The first few bags passed a brief inspection, but the third…

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“Hey Eric, where did you get this bag here? The yellow one with the flower logo,” I asked.

“It was a gift from a sponsor,” he replied. “Why?”

“It’s covered in three different kinds of tracking and tracing magic, and I think I may see a few listening spells. I'll take care of those first, then Maguire can help me start backtracking the rest…and they’re gone.”

“Maybe you should have removed the listening enchantment before you mentioned it,” Maguire said.

“Yeah, I realize that now. Hindsight and all that. Really don’t like that someone was actively listening. The good news is, I still have a trace thanks to the goggles. I may not be able to find the source, but I will know it when I see it. Eric, I need you to tell me everything about the person who gave this to you. When, where, and why. Maguire, pull up a search for any names and I’ll take notes on the rest.”

Maguire grabbed the laptop and Eric scooted over to make room for me on the incredibly comfortable couch.

“I can do you one better.” Eric pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I have a picture taken last week with all of my sponsors. His company just signed on recently so I don’t know a lot about them aside from the fact that they make cologne. Dude seemed nice enough, if a bit standoffish.”

I took the phone and examined the photo, paying close attention to the gentleman that he pointed out. The man stood in the back and would not have stood out in a crowd, but when I looked through the goggles, I saw something quite interesting.

“He’s not involved, at least not directly. My guess would be he was an actor hired to fill in the role. The good news is I’m pretty sure he had direct contact with whoever put the magic on the bag because he’s covered in the stuff himself. Here, look.”

I handed Eric back his phone and the goggles so he could see for himself. Then he handed it to Maguire.

“So, what does this mean? Where do we go from here?” Eric asked.

“I think it's time we meet up with the others, see what they have found. I’ll drive. Maguire, I want you to dig through Eric’s files, see if you find anything.”

“Eric and I can work on that together,” Maguire said in response to Eric’s nervous look.

“I can show you all of the communications I’ve had regarding the sponsor, my stop here, and my upcoming event,” Eric offered.

“Sounds like a plan. Man is it good to have someone else to work with.”

It took us a few minutes to pack up our things and secure the room. Maguire helped me handle the packaging of the enchanted swag bag so it couldn’t be used to track us or spy on us. Having some answers calmed Eric somewhat, but I knew this investigation was far from over.