Chapter 25

"He's only just turned twenty," Cathy explained to her guests, "It's very sad really."

Rossi looked down at the picture. It was certainly challenging when the suspects were so young. One couldn't help but think about the life that might've been if they choices they'd made had been different. There was no practical use in thinking about that, but Rossi still did.

"What makes you think he could be involved?" Reid asked.

"It's a long story," Cathy sighed, "Nathan came to us when he was fifteen. I say came; We found him sleeping rough in the doorway behind where we hold the meetings. Lucy found him. He was in a bad state. I don't know how much any of you know about the Salem pureblood elite. The Price family are up there with the best of them: the Greys, the DeLuces, the Stravroses, they all pale in comparison to the Prices. It's common knowledge that the family is run by the iron fist of its matriarch, Medea Price, Nathan's grandmother. She's about as pureblooded as they come, a real extremest. Not only that, but her motto is rule by fear. I'd be surprised if any of her descendants weren't somehow psychologically damaged."

"So, being a squib, Nathan would've paid dearly," Rolanda said bitterly.

She'd seen things like it before in her own country.

Cathy nodded.

"His childhood was not a happy one. As far as we could make out, he ran away from there only weeks before we picked him up. So Lucy's reaching out to him was perhaps the first act of kindness he'd ever received. She took him home with her, let him stay until we found him a suitable situation. That was Lucy for you: barely even knew the kid, but she pulled out all the stops to help him."

"He stuck to her like glue after that," Cathy continued, "It was always where's Lucy? Is Lucy coming in today? He straight up worshiped her. Nobody thought it could be dangerous until just recently. Lucy announced that she was getting married. I think that set Nathan on edge a bit. He was awfully quiet for that meeting, but I thought he was just a bit jealous, you know, like kids are when someone older they're crushing on gets in a relationship. But then he found out she was marrying James Grey, of the Salem Greys, and he just lost it. Accused her of siding with the enemy, working against him, betraying his trust. He had always been angry at his family, we knew that, but it seemed that his hatred had expanded to all purebloods. He got so worked up that Lucy had to use her wand to restrain him. We've never had to do that before, not with anyone, but Nathan is strong, abnormally strong, and he wasn't going to calm down."

Cathy ran her hand through her hair, looking down at the picture with a mixture of pity and sadness on her face.

"Everything changed after that happened," she said, her voice a little quieter, "Nathan came back, said he was sorry and we never spoke of it again. If Nathan was still annoyed he never outwardly showed it. He always was good at masking his feelings. He's a Price after all: the first words they learn are the code of silence. But there was something in the air, a sort of energy, like everything was teetering on a knife's edge and Nathan was in control of the balance. Some of the others felt it too and they treated him more carefully after that. Lucy tried to act like everything was fine, but you sort of got the feeling she was scared. I tried not to leave her alone with Nathan. I think that annoyed him. I hate to say this, and I hope I'm wrong, but if anyone from the group had bad feelings about Lucy, it was Nathan."

"Was he close at all with Amber Kersley?" Reid inquired.

Cathy gave a small smile.

"In the early days, Amber came in so that she could get more information to support her brother. After a while, I feel like she stayed mostly for Nathan. A lot of the girls in the group seem to like him. He's muscular, handsome and he can be charming when he needs to be. And Amber wasn't there the day he lashed out at Lucy. She was one of the few who didn't avoid him because of it."

"So," Rossi said, "if Nathan had asked Amber to sneak out to meet him after hours?"

"She would have gone," Cathy said flatly, "I can say that with nearly complete confidence."

Next they showed her the picture of Meredith Hennessy. Cathy knew her as well.

"I saw her hanging around near the end of meetings," she said, "I figured she was just a relative there to meet someone."

Rossi and Reid looked at each other. This seemed like the best lead they had.

"Do you know where Nathan could be now?" Rossi asked, getting out his phone to contact the others.

"He has a house in a rough area on the outskirts of town," Cathy said, "The address is in his files, if you want to take them. But right now he should still be at work. I managed to set him up with a part time cleaning position at the Spell Caster Chronicles office last year. Those are the two most likely places."

Rossi nodded.

"Thank you for your time Ms Johnstone. You've been very helpful. We'll let you know how things turn out."

The squib gave him a small, but unconvincing smile. The exercise seemed to have drained her.

As they went to leave, Rolanda lagged behind, wanting to have a few words with Cathy.

"Will you be alright?" the witch asked, "I could stay if you'd like."

The other woman shook her head.

"No, I'll be fine. It's just-"

She hung her head.

"I wish I'd done something sooner. Come out and said what I knew."

Rolanda placed a hand on her back in a comforting manner.

"You didn't know that you knew anything," she said softly, "There was no way you'd suspect Nathan had anything to do with it, not when you didn't know the facts. And there's still a chance that this has nothing to do with him."

Cathy sniffed.

"I wish I could believe that," her voice was hard, "but you didn't see him that when he lost it. His eyes. I've never been so scared in all my life. I think Nathan has done something stupid, Ms Hooch. My God, has he done something stupid."